IGA NEWS
Newsletter of the International Geothermal Association
Quarterly No. 112

IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the Executive
Director
Greetings to all members of IGA and those that arereading this newsletter. We hope the second Quarter of2018 has been a good one for all of you. For us at the
IGA it has been an exciting time, with the absolute
milestone of IGA Board meeting #68 in Reykjavik,
Iceland. Highlights and main outcomes of this meetingare discussed on pages 5 through 6 in this newsletter.
From our perspective at the Secretariat, the most
exciting thing is that the IGA Board has taken a boldstep in executing its strategy and embark on a journey
towards independence. The IGA will move its operating
headquarter from Bochum to Bonn by 1 January 2019.
The City of Bonn is welcoming the IGA and offered
great conditions regarding office space and being close
to our strongest partners such as the UNFCC and
IRENA, and being co-located with the World Wind
Energy Association, the 100%Renewables Platform andthe International Climate Agency is simply fantastic
news. We are looking forward to this new adventurevery much and would also like to express our since
thank you to Prof Rolf Bracke, the Geothermal
Centrum Bochum (GZB), the Bundesland North-Rhein
Westphalen and the EFRE program of the EU, without
whom we would not be in the same position as we aretoday. Thank you!
The Board has also decided to change the frequency ofthe World Geothermal Congress from five to three
years effective from the next one, WGC2020. Thismeans that the first one after WGC2020 will beorganized in 2023 and tenders will be opened in Quarter3 of 2018.
Let us also share some family news regarding our teamin Bochum. Karolina Andersson has become the proud
mum of a baby boy, Viggo, on May 25. We congratulate
her and her family with this fantastic news and we wish
them all a great start in this new chapter of their life.
Highlights of the past few months are the continued
focus on being visible and raising the geothermal flag atconferences, panel discussions and workshops. We havebeen involved in quite a few of them and it is clear that
the IGA needs to transition into an independent
sustainable organization that is renowned worldwide forits geothermal leadership and trusted voice. Focus has
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CONTENTS
IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the Executive Director... 1
In Memoriam Ruggero Bertani… 2
Working Meeting of the WGC 2020 Committees … 3
68th BoD Meeting in Iceland… 5th
4 Iceland Geothermal Conference… 6
25th Annual Congress of the AGM… 7
IGA, IRENA and WB Team up Activities… 9-10
GSR 2018 Launched… 11First Global Visibility Partner for WinG… 12
WGC 2020 Website & Call for Papers… 13

AFRICA
Djibouti: Loans for Geothermal Plant & Project… 14
Ethiopia: Additional Funds to Tendaho Project… 15
Kenya: Olkaria III, New FiT, Grants… 15
Malawi: MoU for Geothermal Development… 18
Tunisia: Geothermally Grown Tomatoes… 18

AMERICAS
Canada: Modular Plants, Projects & Royalties… 19
Costa Rica: Credit Line Approved... 21
Mexico: New CeMIE-Geo Company Formed… 21
U.S.: Forge, Projects, Hawaii Eruption, Plants… 22

ASIA / PACIFIC RIM

China: Tibet, Hainan, Sinopec Plan… 28
Indonesia: Capacity, Sarulla, GREM, New Tariffs… 29
Japan: Micro Power Plant Commissioned… 32
Korea: EGS and Quakes… 32
Philippines: IFC Loan to EDC… 33
Taiwan: MOU to Develop Geothermal Project… 33

EUROPE

EGEC’s Declaration, New President & Report… 34-35
France: Two Projects and Discussion on PPE… 35
Germany: Public Tender, Thalkirchen Project… 38
Iceland: Theistareykir, UNU-GTP, Direct Uses…39
The Netherlands: Geothermal Projects... 40
Norway: Deepest Well Drilled at the Oslo Airport…42
Romania: District Heating Project Planned…42
Switzerland: Successful Well & Greenhouses… 43
UK: Plans for Geothermal Research… 44

OCEANIA
Australia: Birsdville Dismisses Geothermal… 45
New Zealand: Collaboration Agreement with U.S.… 45

OTHERWorldwide capacity, Technology, Climate Change… 46
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IGA News No. 112
been on Iceland with both the IGC and the IGA Board
meeting taking place there. Also, emphasis has been put
to create synergies between the Oil & Gas Sector and
the Geothermal Sector by organizing cross-over events
together with the AAPG and the EAGE. Geothermal isstill relatively invisible in the energy transition dialogues
taking place on a global scale, however is gaining
traction on the regional and national scale. It is up to us
as a reputable organization and our renewable partners
to facilitate upscaling from national to international,
apply best practices and support the growth ofgeothermal development through active engagementwith policy-makers and decision-takers. We cannot
stress enough how important it is to hear from ourmembership about your ideas, your solutions and yourcontributions. Do not hesitate to connect to us andshare your geothermal story with us and the global
geothermal community. We specifically invite you toreach out to us regarding our new website, ourinitiatives on the UNFC, on drilling specifications andstandardizations, and geothermal capacity-building inemerging countries.
For now we wish
you
happy
SummerorWinter Breakpending
where youlive
andwork andenjoy yourleisure timewith family
and friends.
Kind regards,
Dr. Marit
Brommer,
Executive Director,
IGA – marit.brommer@hsbochum.de

In Memoriam Ruggero Bertani
Adele Manzella, President of UGI(Italian Geothermal Union),
Researcher at CNR-IGG (Italian
National Research Council-Institute of
Geosciences and Geo-resources)
Those who had the joy to meet Ruggero Bertani will befinding the geothermal world a much emptier placesince June 21, when Ruggero passed away after one yearof a hard-fought illness, at the age of 62. The news of
his death surprised even those who had only met him

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2
recently: he had such a vitality –so much so that neverseemed to take even his own cancer too seriously.
Ruggero was the head of the Geothermal Innovationline in Enel Green Power (EGP), the largest Italiancompany dealing with industrial geothermal activities.
He was also President of EGEC (European Geothermal
Energy Council). From these positions, Ruggero was afree-wheeling force in promoting geothermal researchand innovation. He encouraged collaboration among
European industry, academia and research centers bystrongly supporting the launch of the ETIP – DG
(European Technology & Innovation Platform on Deep
Geothermal) in 2016. Elected Chair in 2017, his view ofgeothermal research frontiers is very well reflected in
the first strategic document of ETIP-DG released on
March 2018, i.e. its Vision.
Among the numerous and diversified Research &Innovation projects he launched for EGP, he was only
able to see the completion of the very first one, which
ended just before his death: an innovative, challenging
and ambitious project co-funded by European Union
named DESCRAMBLE, by which drilling at super-hot
conditions has been successfully achieved in the
Larderello area, Italy.
The recent activities were only the tip of the iceberg of
the huge contribution that Ruggero gave into theinternational geothermal energy scenario.
Ruggero was a high-energy nuclear physicist and worked
first as researcher at INFN and CERN and then forEnel in his study field till the denuclearization of Italy.
His first public engagement in geothermal energy was
the organization of pre- and post-congress courses of
the 1995 World Geothermal Congress, held in Florence,
Italy. He was a member of IGA Board of Directors,
acting as Executive Director on 1998-2004 when the
IGA Secretary was hosted by Enel. He was then IGA
Vice-President on 2007-2010. For over 20 years he has
been the brilliant voice presenting the geothermal power
generation in the world at the IGA WGCs. Collecting
and managing IGA geothermal production data, for awhile he organized, in collaboration with the Italian
National Research Council, the online geothermal
production IGA database. The geothermal energy world
status was a classic among his numerous scientificpublications, mainly based on geothermal power
generation.
His career spanned a wide collection of active roles innumerous contexts. After his reservoir modelling
activity for Enel and participation in research projects(the European I-GET project for the application of new
integrated geophysical techniques for the identificationof deep targets, and the SINO-Italian cooperation
project, for reservoir assessment of Yangbajing

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IGA News No. 112
geothermal field, Tibet), he was Project Director in the
Geothermal Center of Excellence of EGP.
He was a Board Member andthen Vice-President of EGEC,
andChairmanoftheTechnological
PlatformongeoelectricityofEGEC,
coordinating the geothermalpresence in the Strategic Energy
Technology (SET) Plan of theEuropean Commission. He also
acted as Secretary of the Italian
Geothermal Association (Unione
Geotermica Italiana, UGI).
He was Lead Analyst in the‘Energy
Resources(Fossil,
Nuclear, and Renewable)’ chapterof the Global Energy Assessment(GEA) from the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
and was a member of theInternational Panel of the IEA
for the elaboration of thegeothermal roadmap.
Ruggero believed in the necessityof a less polluted world where geothermal energy plays
an important role, and seriously undertook his activity at
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
activities, as main author of the geothermal chapter ofthe 2009 IPPC report, and leading author of thegeothermal chapter in the Special Report on the
Renewable Energy Sources (SRREN) of IPCC working
group. During 2012 and 2013 he was the local chairmanof the Organizing Board of the most important
geothermal European event, organized by EGEC every
three years: the European Geothermal Conference(EGC) held in Pisa on 2013, with EGP as majorsponsor and co-organized by UGI and IGA Euro
Branch.
He loved biking, eating, and making others laugh.
Young scientists, meeting him at the lessons for the ICS
International School of Geothermics in Trieste or at
UGI, remember well his powerful message, his advice
and his support –Ruggero enjoyed teaching and sharing
his knowledge and enthusiasm. At work dinners as wellas in meetings he could blend together technologicaldebates and humorous examples.
Warm, encouraging, assertive, he never gave up when
faced with difficulties, and always saw the positive side.
When he discovered that he had cancer at the apex of
his career he said “well, this moment is better thanothers, now I have all the strength to fight”. And hefought like a lion.
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3
Ruggero is survived by his widow, Giovanna, and his
two sons, Lorenzo and Leonardo, who have lost atremendously loving, generous andfun-loving husband and father.
Those of us who were lucky enoughto know him personally will always
cherish the joy and laughter that hegave us on a daily basis, which hesurely brought wherever he went.

Working Meeting of
the WGC 2020
Organizing andSteering
Committees
Luis C.A. GutiérrezNegrín, Editor
On April 27th the second working
meeting of the organizing andsteering committees for the World
Geothermal
Congress
2020(WGC2020) was held in the officesof the company Landsvirkjun in
Reykjavik, to review the current status of this congress
to be held in the Islandic capital in the week from April
26 to May 2, 2020. The WGC is the most important andattended meeting of the geothermal community
worldwide, and has been organized by the IGA and alocal partner every five years, since April-May 1995,
when the first of this series of WGC was held in
Florence, Italy. The following meetings were organizedin Japan, Turkey, Indonesia and Australia, in 2000, 2005,
2010, and 2015, respectively.
After a public bidding process, which received several
proposals by organizations and national associations
from Chile, Kenya, Germany-The Netherlands, Iceland,
The Philippines and the United States, the Board of
Directors of IGA selected the Iceland proposal as themost highly qualified, and granted the venue to thiscountry. The organization of the congress is the sole
responsibility of the host country, which has appointed
an Organizing Committee (OC), but much of decisions
have to be approved by the IGA, for which it has also
appointed a Steering Committee (SC).
The OC current composition is as follows: Chairman:
Bjarni Pálsson (Landsvirkjun), Vice Chairman:
Hildigunnur H. Thorsteinsson (Reikjavik Energy),
Secretary: Viðar Helgason (Iceland Geothermal Cluster
Initiative), Treasurer: Kristín Vala Matthíasdóttir (HSOrka), Project Manager: Hjalti Páll Ingólfsson(GEORG). Members: Alexander Richter (President of
IGA, ThinkGeoEnergy), Árni Ragnarsson (ÍSOR),
Hildigunnur Thorsteinsson (Reykjavik Energy), Lúðvík
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IGA News No. 112
Georgsson (UNU-GTP), Páll Erland (Samorka), andSigurður M. Garðarsson (University of Iceland,
GEORG).
The current members of the SC are Juliet Newson(Iceland), Steering Committee Chair and Fellowships
Chair; Paul Brophy (United States), Sponsorship Chair;
Roland N. Horne (United States), Technical Program
Chair; Lúðvík Georgsson (Iceland), Short Courses
Chair; Luis Carlos Gutiérrez-Negrín (Mexico), Finance
Chair; and Andrea Blair (New Zealand), Non-Technical
Program Chair.
The agenda of the more recent working meeting
included an introduction and welcome by the host; thestatus of work and pressing next steps, including theapproval of the visual identity and logo, the congresstheme and the launching of the official website; thepresentation and update of the Master Plan, with thereview of the key target dates, the marketing andpromotion main activities and an updating of thepreliminary budget. Another important subject was thetechnical program, and the SC-OC reviewed thedeadlines for submission and evaluation of abstracts, thelist of technical sessions, areas for poster sessions,exhibition and side-events, contents of the plenary
session, and the list of possible short courses to beoffered in the two previous days (April 24-25) to thecongress itself.
After the discussion, the SC-OC members joined themembers of the IGA Board who were developing its
68th meeting in Reikjavik (see separate note), and then all
paid a protocol visit to the President of Iceland, Guðni
Thorlacius Jóhannesson. The President offered a4
reception at the Presidential Residence, located in
Bessastaðir, north of Hafnarfjordur town and just acrossthe Skerjafjordur fjord, around 13 kilometers from
Reykjavík center. There, the IGA members were asked
to sign the visitor book, and then were received andgreeted individually by the President, who later gavethem a warm welcome message, and gently accepted agroup photo.
Bessastaðir has been the presidential residence since1941, but the site has a much older history, having been
mentioned in the Islendinga Saga (Saga of the
Icelanders). Archeological digs and researches haveshown that the earliest settlers in Bessastaðir wereamong the first settlers in Iceland. When Iceland agreed
to fall under the King of Norway and abide to his rule,
Bessastaðir was claimed by the King and it became aRoyal Stronghold and the dwelling place of the highest
ranking official in Iceland.
The main building at Bessastaðir was built in 1761 andthe church, which still stands, was consecrated in 1796.
During 1761-1766 it housed a school until 1867. GrimurThomsen, a poet and statesman purchased it and lived
there with his family for almost two decades. It was in1940 that the land was bought by Sigurdur Jonasson anddonated to the state, for the future residence of the
Icelandic presidents.
Some of the main features of the WGC2020, as
discussed by the SC-OC meeting, are the following:- The short courses, conference and exhibition of the
WGC2020 will be held at the conference center Harpa
located in the center of Reykjavík. This venue can easily
accommodate a convention of up to 2500 delegates withMembers of the OC-SC and the IGA BoD, with the President of Iceland, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson.
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IGA News No. 112

5a good exhibition area as well as break-out areas forcatering and 14 meeting rooms.

poster presentation will be assessed. It is expected tohave around 500 papers in poster presentation.

- The OC has prepared a preliminary budget based on
between 1200-1700 delegates, including Students,
Fellowship holders, Exhibition booth attendants and
VIP’s. The OC considers this is a conservative estimatebased on two last conferences, and will be updated
constantly.

- A Trade Exhibition will be a major component of theCongress. The Exhibition will be housed in the open
area within the Harpa Center, where coffee and lunch
will be served. The Exhibition will be held over fivedays. Facilities will be offered where Exhibitors may
elect to entertain visitors with social drinks or luncheon
events (costs to be borne by Exhibitors).

- The Opening Session will be held on the morning ofMonday 27 April 2020 in the Harpa Conference Halland will commence with cultural welcomes. The
Opening Session will include greetings by the Convener
and Sponsors, followed by addresses from invited
Keynote Speakers and VIPs. The Closing Session will
be held on the afternoon of Friday 1st May in the sameplace, which can hold around 1750 sitting attendants. It
will include messages of thanks from the Convener andSponsors and the introduction and handover to the host
Organization for the next WGC. The Closing Session
might also include Keynote Addresses from invited
Speakers and the Reykjavik Declaration to be preparedby the SC-OC.
- It is expected to organize around ten simultaneoustechnical sessions, with oral presentations of 20 minutes
each and a total of at least 700 papers. At the start ofeach day, it is planned to hold a breakfast meeting at theCongress venue for Chairpersons and Speakers toreceive instructions and get prepared. The final amountof papers and sessions will depend on the papers
received and approved for oral presentation.
- There will be also poster sessions every day during theoral sessions. Each poster presenter will be allotted one
day to present its poster. The poster will be for display
all day and at the end of the technical sessions thepresenter will be allocated approximately one hour toattend the poster and provide explanations and answers
to interested viewers. During other times, posters will beon display only. The alternative option of electronic

68th BoD Meeting in Iceland
Marit Brommer, IGA Executive
Director

Preparing for the future - The International
Geothermal Association is implementing far
reaching changes
The IGA Board conducted its 68th meeting in Reykjavik,
Iceland, on 29 April 2018. As a result of intense
discussions the IGA Board has decided on improving
the following elements which are presented here below.
These improvements will help prepare the geothermal
sector for the future and emphasize the IGA’s role in
the representation of the Global Geothermal Energy
Sector.
To focus and strengthen its role, the International
Geothermal Association (IGA) is proud to announce a
series of reforms following the recent decisions madeduring the IGA Board of Directors meeting inReykjavik, Iceland.
IGA has made strides toward a more sustainable,
independent structure that reflects the international
nature of the representing body of the global
geothermal sector through the association. This effort
will transition IGA to an independent structure andposition itself for growth by changing its funding modeland modus operandi.

Alex Richter addresses to the BoD in the 68th meeting.
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IGA News No. 112
IGA understands the need to sharpen its value
proposition for members and has taken steps toredefine elements of its membership model.
Henceforth, IGA will increase its emphasis on theindustry with different corporate membership levels andengagement. At the same time, the association will
sharpen its profile towards value proposition for ouraffiliated members, national associations, andinstitutions.
“With these changes, we arestrengthening our position andengagement with international partners
in our work highlighting what
geothermal energy has to offer in the
global energy transition. With theadaptation of our operational model westrengthen the role we play for ourmembers and the wider global
geothermal energy community.” Alexander Richter, President of IGA& Principal, ThinkGeoEnergy.
Alongside many ongoing andplanned initiatives, the IGA is
striving to create value for thegeothermal sector and expand its
collective voice on behalf ofglobal geothermal development.
These initiatives are already wellunderway with the deployment of
UNFC
Specificationsfor
Geothermal Energy Resources,andengagement
onthe
Geothermal
Sustainability
Assessment Protocol. IGA isplanning to establish an Advisory
Council to support IGA and its
initiatives.

6
frequently with our global members and emphasize theimportance of promoting geothermal energy and its
benefits for other industries.
“In the recent years the world-wide boom of renewable energy for
power production has also seized geothermal. Especially in SouthEast Asia, Africa and Turkey the growth rates are impressive.
Geothermal for heating has developed exponentially in China andsome areas in Europe. Therefore, it is time to increase also thefrequency of WGC, the most important platform of the geothermal
sector for exchange of ideas, informationand technology among practitioners,
academics, industry and policy makers
from the whole globe.” - Peter Meier,
Chair of Information Committee, IGA& CEO, Geo-Energie Suisse AG.
IGA is preparing a newcommunications strategy with thegoal of increasing engagementwith its membership, affiliatedorganizations, partners and thewider international geothermal
community. Today, IGA is alsoproud to present and launch their
new website: www.geothermalenergy.org,
www.lovegeothermal.org.

Last but not least, the IGA ismoving its operating head quarter
from Bochum to Bonn (Germany)by 1 January 2018. We thank Prof
Rolf Bracke for all his endeavours
and passion to host the IGA
Secretariat since 2011 at the
Geothermal Center of Bochum(GZB). The IGA has been
fortunate to have strong sponsors
Alex Richter and Bjarni Bjarnason welcome
which has helped enormously tothevisitorstotheHellisheidi
plant,
during“Working on initiatives like thecreate a future-proof platformthe visit included in the BoD meeting.
UNFC Specifications for Geothermal
which can operate independently.
Resources and efforts on a Global Geothermal Sustainability
The IGA staff is grateful having worked with so many
Assessment Protocol, are aimed at supporting an accelerated
talented people dedicated to geothermal energy. Thank
deployment of geothermal energy, strengthening the global
you Bochum, thank you GZB, and thank you Prof Rolf
geothermal energy industry for further growth and utilizing all that
Bracke!
geothermal energy has to offer.” - Bruno Della Vedova, Secretary,
IGA & Associate Professor, Fondazione Internazionale Trieste.
4th Iceland Geothermal
IGA is actively taking steps for a deeper engagementwith industry on activities and alignment that supports
and strengthens our scientific and academic roots.
Furthermore, IGA has decided to change the frequencyof the World Geothermal Congress from every five tothree years. Following the World Geothermal Congress
2020, which will be held from April 27 to May 1, 2020
in Reykjavik, Iceland, the next congress will take place in
2023. The aim of this decision is to engage more
www.geothermal-energy.org

Conference Held in Reikjavik

On April 26th the Iceland Geothermal Conference(IGC) successfully concluded in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Having established itself as an important regularmeeting of the international community, this year’s
event brought together more than 600 participants from40 countries from around the world.
As in previous years, the event featured not only an
exciting program and high-level speakers, targeting a
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IGA News No. 112

7

In its unique setup, theIGC again built invarious field trips within
the program of theconference right after
the first half of the
opening day. One trip
brought people to the
Hellisheidi geothermal
power
plant
near
Reykjavik,
while
another one showed
participants
howgeothermal energy is
being utilized in thelocal community of
Hveragerdi. The third
field trip focused on theOpening Session, Iceland Geothermal Conference 2018 (Photo by ThinkGeoEnergy).
geology and nature onthe
Reykjanes
Peninsula, the location
wide variety of topics from financing, to technicalof the operations of the Svartsengi and Reykjanes
solutions and the direct use of geothermal energy
geothermal plants by HS Orka.
resources, but also saw a great variety of side events and
The conference itself featured a fantastic program withfield trips.
speakers from around the world. They not only looked
This year’s event was held under the theme of ‘Breaking
at technological issues, challenges and solution, but also
the Barriers’, which was carried throughout the days oftargeted on how projects can be financed, how
the conference and side events.
stakeholder engagement could and should be
implemented, and much more. To get a sense of the full
The event was kicked off with a one-day workshop by
program that was offered, check out the official
the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)’s
program.
Global Geothermal Alliance (GGA) on ‘Geothermal
Direct Utilization and Food Security’, which highlighted
After the conference, three different excursions offered
the opportunities for geothermal direct use. A second
participants the opportunity to visit Iceland’s newest
event by the GGA, looked at how collaboration efforts
geothermal power plant of Theistareykir in the North of
can be strengthened between regional and national
Iceland, visit the Langjökull Ice Caves and experience
industry platforms and how industry clusters can jointly
the sights of the Golden Circle, visiting the Gullfoss
develop or support to promote geothermal
waterfall, Lake Thingvellir and the famous Geysir.
development globally. Presentations and program can
The 2018 Iceland Geothermal Conference was also a bit
be accessed here. On the day prior to the conference,of a test run for the IGA’s World Geothermal Congress
the Iceland School of Energy held a workshop on
2020 to be held in Reykjavik at the same venue, the‘Geothermal System Management: Reservoir ModelingHarpa convention center.
for Management’.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/successfulDuring the conference program, the United Nations
iceland-geothermal-conference-highlights-future-roleUniversity Geothermal Training Program (UNU-GTP)
of-geothermal-energy-worldwide/
held a workshop in celebration on its 40th anniversary,bringing together a large group of current and past
25th Annual Congress of thestudents of the program, and a large group of
Mexican Geothermal
representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, as wellas other countries.
Association (AGM)
The World Bank and its Energy Sector Management
Assistant Program (ESMAP) held a special workshop
on how – through its Global Geothermal Development
Plan--, the World Bank helps to change the course ofgeothermal development.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Abraham III Molina Martínez, Juan
Ignacio Martínez-Estrella and Heber D.
Diez-León, AGM BoD
In April 19-20 2018, the Mexican Geothermal
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IGA News No. 112
held its 25th Annual Congress and General Assembly inMorelia city, Michoacán, México. The AGM is the
Mexican association affiliated with the IGA and ispresently composed of about 200 individual members.
The congress gathered about 140 participants from thegeothermal division of the Comisión Federal deElectricidad (CFE), and the Instituto Nacional deElectricidad y Energías Limpias (INEEL, National
Institute for Electricity and Clean Energy; formerly IIE),
as well as the universities of Mexico (UNAM),
Michoacán (UMSNH) and Nuevo León (UANL) andother institutions, like the Mexican Center for
Innovation in Geothermal Energy (CeMIE-Geo: Centro
Mexicano de Innovación en Energía Geotérmica), theSecretary of Energy (SENER), University of California,
national and foreign private companies and numerous
students, mainly from the National PolitechnicalInstitute (IPN).
An eight-hour pre-congress workshop, divided into two,four-hour sessions, was organized by the AGM on 18th
April. The first session, titled ‘Introduction to
Exploration Geo-chemistry’, was lectured by Fernando
Sandoval Medina, head of the Exploration department
at the geothermal division of the CFE-Generación EPS
VI. The second session ‘Solutions to Chemical
Operating Problems in Geothermal Developments’, waslectured by Oleh Weres, Chief Scientist at PowerChem
Technology LLC. Twelve participants attended theworkshop.
The opening ceremony of the congress was held on themorning of 19th April. The presidium was composed ofDavid Alejandro Rocha-Ruiz, Technical Coordinator of

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8
Geothermal Energy at SENER representing Michelle
Alejandra Ramírez-Bueno, head of the geothermalenergy area in this Secretary; Miguel Ramírez Montes,
deputy manager of Geothermal Studies of thegeothermal division of the CFE-Generación EPS VI,
representing Carlos Sánchez Cornejo, head of thisdivision; Georgina Izquierdo-Montalvo, head of thegeothermal division of the INEEL, Aída LópezHernández technical leader of the GEMex Project
cooperation between Mexico and the European Union,
and the current AGM’s President, Abraham III MolinaMartínez.
The congress started with two plenary presentations,
one by David Alejandro Rocha-Ruiz (‘Perspectives ofGeothermal Energy in Mexico’) and the second by
Miguel Ramírez Montes (‘Geothermal Energy in
Mexico’). During the congress, 34 technical papers were
presented orally and 8 as posters. In the first day, thepapers covered topics related only to geothermal
exploration (geology, geohydrology, geophysics,
geochemistry). In the second day the papers covered
other topics such as reservoir engineering and modeling,
well and steam field engineering/technoloy, geothermal
turbines, direct uses and geothermal heat pumps.
In parallel to the technical sessions, a commercial
exhibition was mounted in a space adjacent to theconference hall, where different agencies and companies
involved in geothermal energy in Mexico exhibited theirproducts and services. The sponsors and exhibitors
were: Tenaris-Tamsa, Air Drilling Equipment Services,
CeMIE-Geo, Vinco Energy Services, Geothermal
Congress for Latin America & the Caribbean(GEOLAC), INEEL, CFE, CARSO Infraestructura yJuly-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Construcción, and Compañía Perforadora México.
In conjunction with the congress, on the afternoon ofApril 19th it was held the workshop ‘Successfulcommunity and indigenous engagement: sharing lessons
from New Zealand’, which was sponsored by the
Embassy of New Zealand in Mexico and offered by agroup of lecturers from Upflow NZ.
On the evening of April 19th, as every year since 2005,
the AGM presented the Pathé Award, which is arecognition to a person who has been involved in thefield of Mexican geothermal energy in an outstanding
way, by at least 15 years, and whose trajectory, merits orcontributions are considered relevant. On this occasion,
this distinction went to Magaly del Carmen Flores
Armenta, former Manager of the CFE’s geothermal
division, and currently Deputy Director of Network
Business at the same CFE. She is the first woman
awarded, and got the recognition from the President ofAGM, Abraham III Molina-Martínez and the previous
Pathé Award winner, Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín.
Magaly Flores was accompanied by her husband anddaughters and other close relatives, and gave an emotive
speech thanking the distinction.
Finally, on the evening of 20th April, the AGM held its
25th General Annual Assembly, where the President
and the Treasurer of the AGM Board presented theofficial annual report to its members.

IGA, IRENA and World BankTeam Up to Streamline
Geothermal Energy
Development
Countries can expect a more robust and reliable set ofprocedures when screening a potential site for setting up
geothermal energy projects, thanks to new geothermal
resource data gathering and classification efforts being
piloted by the IGA, the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) and the World Bank, with the supportof the Global Geothermal Alliance (GGA).
The specifications of the United Nations Framework
Classification (UNFC) to Geothermal Energy Resources
and Reserves provides a harmonized framework toqualify estimates of extractable geothermal energy by
projects — taking into account economic viability,
technical feasibility and geological confidence — thatwill help stimulate geothermal investments in countries
where it is applied.
“Geothermal energy is fully recognized as a stable,
reliable source of energy that can power economic
development without contributing to climate change. As
a result, globally we have seen a growing demand forgeothermal projects and growing need for initialappraisals of potential sites for geothermal power, heatwww.geothermal-energy.org

9

UPCOMING EVENTSGEOHEAT International Geothermal
Conference
4-7 September 2018, PetropavlovskKamchatsky, Russian Federation
6th Indonesian International Geothermal
Convention & Exhibition
5-8 September 2018, Jakarta, Indonesia
GRC Annual Meeting & Expo
14-17 October 2018, Reno, Nevada, U.S.
VI Polish Geothermal Congress
23-25 October 2018, Zakopane, Poland
Seventh African Rift Geothermal Conference(ARGeo-C7)
29 October – 4 November 2018, Kigali,
Rwanda12th Asian Geothermal Symposium (AGS12)
9-12 November 2018, Daejeon, Korea
40th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop
14-16 November 2018, Taupo, New ZealandNote: Please check the IGA website for more
events.
and other direct uses,” said Henning Wuester, Directorof IRENA’s Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre.
“Through collaboration between IRENA, the IGA andthe World Bank we expect to develop and promotetransparency and standardization in the way resource
assessments are conducted, reviewed and reported topromote a better understanding of the true potential
and value of geothermal prospects,” Wuester explains.
In September 2017, countries of the Global Geothermal
Alliance, an IRENA initiative, agreed to work together
to identify and implement measures to significantly
increase the speed of geothermal energy development
through the Florence Declaration. Standardization ofgeothermal resource estimates in countries is key toachieving this, as it provides clarity to investors,
regulators, governments and consumers — critical when
considering development opportunities at both project,company and national level.
“The UNFC system, when applied, is expected to foster
an easier understanding of the geothermal resource basein most countries, and facilitate effective valuation ofgeothermal fields, and as a consequence, increase accessto finance for investments in the sector,” adds
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Abdulmalik Oricha Ali, IRENA’s coordinator for the
project.
Since its official endorsement by the United Nations
Economic Commission for
EuropeCommittee
onSustainable Energy in 2016,
the
UNFC
Geothermal
Specifications have only been
applied to single project casestudies in just a few countries,
but the new collaboration will
see the classification for the
first time applied to wholecountries.

10
numerous geothermal fields –acknowledging thedifference between technical feasibility and economic
viability.

Piloting the initiative will
involve authorities at national
level in four countries withstrong geothermal ambitions
View of a Flores volcano. Photo taken from the source.
applying the UNFC to all
geothermal projects in theircountry, and will include
Flores, an Indonesian island named for its beautiful
developing a near holistic picture of geothermal
flora, is the test-bed of these newly adapted
potential including maps and tables in IRENA’s Globalclassification guidelines for geothermal projects. Called
Atlas for Renewable Energy platform.
the ‘UNFC Geothermal Specifications,’ this United“Geothermal deserves a global standard. The IGA is
Nations’ adapted resource classification system is for theexcited to collaborate with IRENA and the World Bank
first time being piloted on the small island with theto leverage the important work done on the UNFC
support of IRENA, the International Geothermal
geothermal resources and reserves classifications andAssociation (IGA) and the World Bank.
standardizations,” said Marit Brommer, Executive
Committed to improving socio-economic conditions
Director of the IGA. “Building strong partnerships at a
through stable and reliable energy access, somemulti-national level and jointly deploying industrycountries with the right geothermal resources are
standards at national levels, will be crucial for the
pursuing geothermal energy. Challenging this pursuit,
successful uptake of geothermal energy worldwide.”
however, has been the struggle to attract financing —To be jointly implemented by IRENA and the IGA,
showing that to succeed a geothermal project needs towith support from the World Bank’s Energy Sector
be more than just technically possible.
Management Assistance Program, the project will begin
by reviewing and classifying the identified geothermal“Tapping into geothermal energy is about more thanprojects and resource estimates of Flores –an
just steam,” said Abdulmalik Oricha Ali, an IRENA
Indonesian island with 14 different geothermal projects,
program officer helping to coordinate the new
representing significant geothermal development
geothermal assessment pilot schemes. “Geothermal
activity.
energy can only benefit anyone if it’s economicallycompetitive, and for that investors need both technicalSource:and socio-economic assessments,” Ali adds. In
http://www.irena.org/newsroom/articles/2018/Apr/I
Indonesia, the UNFC Geothermal Specifications can be
RENA-IGA-and-World-Bank-Team-Up-to-Streamlineused by authorities to promote clarity to potential
Geothermal-Energy-Development
investors on geothermal prospects.

IGA-IRENA-WB Workshop on
UNFC Geothermal
Specifications
From 20 to 23 of March, 2018, IRENA and partners
from the IGA and World Bank shared with Indonesian
government officials and geothermal project investors
how the UNFC system can help classify Flores’s
www.geothermal-energy.org

The UNFC system holistically encompasses the
management of socio-economical, technological anduncertainty aspects of energy and mineral projects.
Using the classification system’s project maturity andresource progression model, investors can identify
projects to match their preferred risk profile, reduce
exposure to potential costly failures and protect theirinvestments.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

11

It is estimated that across Indonesia’s 17,000 islands
there could be as much as 29.5 gigawatts (GW)
theoretical geothermal potential, and the country has set
in motion plans to harness it. In 2017, Indonesia had
almost 2 GW of installed geothermal capacity, andduring September’s High-Level Conference of the
Global Geothermal Alliance, Indonesia’s Ministry ofEnergy and Mineral Resources outlined how the country
intends to become the world’s biggest producer ofgeothermal energy by 2021.
“By 2025 we plan to have over 7 GW of geothermal
capacity,” said Pak Sanusi Satar, Vice Chairman of theIndonesian Geothermal Association (INAGA),
describing his country’s geothermal ambitions. INAGA
representatives attended the Flores workshop and were
presented with an overview of the initiative’s objectives–joining in group work to classify a subset of Flores’s
projects.
“This workshop has been useful to us because in ourstandards we’ve been focusing on just the technicalaspects of geothermal projects, but in the UNFC we
include it all –the social, economic, financial, andgeological aspects. I find them interesting and usefuland hope we can apply classification,” Satar said. The
sessions provided hands-on training to empower theIndonesian authorities to continue the work themselvesto classify projects in the rest of Indonesia.
“For us this session was very much needed,” said Pak
Dikdik Risdianto, a geologist with the IndonesianGeological Agency. “Our work has only looked at
exploration
without
feasibility or economic
considerations, but after
this UNFC course, we’verealized we need to lookbeyond just resources andthink about economics.”

m/articles/2018/Apr/Growing-Floress-GeothermalGarden

GSR 2018 Launched
On June 4th the 2018 version of the Global Status
Report (GSR) was released by REN 21, the worldwide
network on renewable energy, from which IGA is apartner. The 2018 Global Status Report presents
developments and trends through the end of 2017, as
well as observed trends from early 2018 where available.
First published in 2005, the annual GSR is the mostcomprehensive and timely overview of the status, recent
developments and trends in renewable energy markets,
industries, investments, and policy developments
worldwide. By design, it does not provide analysis orforecast. Data are provided by a network of 900
contributors, researchers, and authors from all over theworld.
Some of the highlights of this 2018 GSR are as follows:- Renewable power accounted for 70% of net additions
to global power generating capacity in 2017, which is thelargest increase in renewable power capacity in modern
history.
- New solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached record
levels, with 29% relative to 2016. Wind power also
drove the uptake of renewables with 52 GW added
globally.
- Investment in new renewable power capacity wasThoughtheinitialfeedbackfromtheworkshop in Indonesia
has been overwhelmingly
positive, the work for the
IRENA team working on
the initiative, has justbegun. IRENA and its
partners plan to continue
to pilot the classification
systemindifferent
countries and acrosscontinents to optimize it
fordifferent
needs
globally.
Source:http://irena.org/newsroo

Top five countries in power and heat production from renewables in 2017, after the2018 GSR.

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July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
more than twice that of net, new fossil fuel and nuclear
power capacity combined, despite large, ongoingsubsidies for fossil fuel generation.
- Investment in renewables was regionally concentrated:
China, Europe and the United States accounted fornearly 75% of global investment in renewables in 2017.
- Both energy demand and energy-related CO2
emissions rose substantially for the first time in four
years. Energy-related CO2 emissions rose by 1.4%.
Global energy demand increased an estimated 2.1% in2017.
- Little change in renewables uptake in heating
and cooling.

12
WING to support a number of global visibility
initiatives, the first of which is the scholarship.”Andrea (Andy) Blair, Global Chairman of WING, says:“We’re delighted to have Seequent step up and support
WING as our Global Visibility Partner. Women need to
be visible, in positions of influence, making decisions
and leading, and serving as role models for thosewanting to step into these roles too. We thought it wasa really good fit to have Seequent as our partner in thisarea given their Leapfrog Geothermal software, used bymany in the industry, provides the tools to enablevisualization and provide clarity.”- In transport, increasing electrification isoffering possibilities for renewable energy
uptake despite the dominance of fossil fuels.
Rana Adib, Executive Secretary of REN21,
said “We may be racing down the pathway
towards a 100% renewable electricity future,
but when it comes to heating, cooling andtransport, we are coasting along as if we had all
the time in the world. Sadly, we don’t.”
Source: http://www.ren21.net/wpcontent/uploads/2018/05/GSR2018_PressRelease_EN.pdf

First Global Visibility
Partner for Women in
Geothermal (WING)
New Zealand-based Seequent, a world leader
in the development of data visualization
software, has signed on as the first Global
Visibility Partner for Women in Geothermal(WING) to help raise the visibility of womenin the industry and to inspire others.
The announcement was made at IGC 2018, the 4th
Iceland Geothermal Conference in Reykjavík, at an
event co-hosted by Iceland’s Women in Energy (KíO)
and WING, a global network that aims to promote theeducation, professional development, and advancementof women in the geothermal community.
The WING/Seequent Visibility Scholarship was also
launched at the event which will fund one WING
member each year to attend a global geothermal
conference and present a research paper.
Graham Grant, Seequent’s Chief Operating Officer,
says: “We’ve been long-time supporters of WING andtheir mission to support women in the geothermal
industry to reach their potential. Visibility has animportant role to play in helping achieve this. We saw
this partnership as a fantastic opportunity to work withwww.geothermal-energy.org

Left to right: Andy Blair, Chair of WING with Jeremy O’Brien,
Seequent’s Geothermal Business Manager and Clare Baxter,
Seequent’s Technical Sales Advisor Energy (UK & Europe)(Source: WING).
Founded in 2013, WING now has around 1000
members in 48 country teams in geothermal hotspots
around the world from New Zealand to El Salvador to
Denmark.
Open to all WING women, this year’s Visibility
Scholarship will support speaking at the New ZealandGeothermal Conference in November. Seequent will
provide flights, accommodation and conference
registration for the successful applicant, chosen from
conference abstracts screened by WING and Seequent.
Blair said Seequent’s efforts play an important part intheir wider action plan around the key themes ofvisibility, connect, inform and advance. In 2015 WING
set an ambitious 5-year plan ‘Roadmap to Iceland 2020’,
which is the next World Geothermal Congress, toactively pursue gender equality in the geothermal
industry. She says, “Our goal to engage with all those
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
that enable and drive geothermal initiatives across theworld, and we’re making great progress.”
Blair added it’s also important to have a meaningfulproportion of WINGmen as members as they make up
84% of the geothermal industry, and hold the vast
majority of leadership positions. “Without the supportof men, its unlikely meaningful change will occur.”Jeremy O’Brien, Seequent’s Geothermal Business
Manager, is one of the founding WINGmen. “I’ve been
involved with Andy and the WING team from the start,
along with other colleagues at Seequent. It’s been reallyinspirational to be part of the network as they work to
break down barriers for women in the industry. The
tools and initiatives to support women in the workplacealso support men, whether its workshops or the work
they are doing on maternity and paternity models.
Seequent is well known in the geothermal community
by its Leapfrog® modelling software, whose 3D
geological version was introduced over seven years ago.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/seequentbecomes-first-global-visibility-partner-for-women-ingeothermal/

WGC 2020: Launching
Website & Call for Abstracts
The IGA and the Icelandic geothermal community havelaunched a dedicated website for the World Geothermal
Congress (WGC) 2020, to be held in Reykjavik, Icelandin April 2020. WGC 2020 will bring together the entire
geothermal community in what will be the largest
geothermal conference ever held.
Featuring renowned international speakers fromacademia, the business sector as well as government andNGOs, WGC 2020 will be a platform for the discussionthat will shape the development and direction of theindustry in the 21st century.
Benefitting greatly from the proximity of Iceland’s
geothermal resources to Reykjavik, field trips andexcursions to Geothermal Power Plants and Iceland’s
unique geothermally shaped nature will featureprominently in the Program of WGC 2020.
Alex Richter, President of IGA, states in the websitethat “On behalf of the International Geothermal
Association, we are excited to see the World
Geothermal Congress being finally hosted in Iceland.
The country stands like no other for the sustainableutilization of geothermal energy, with power generation,
space heating, bathing and wellness, food production
and so much more. Iceland represents a showcase of theworld of opportunities geothermal energy has to offer.”

13
abstracts. The deadline to send abstracts is
Thursday 31st January 2019, and the author
instructions
are
on
the
web
at
http://www.wgc2020.com. The list of themes isgrouped into four main subjects, as follows:
GeneralKeynoteCountry Updates
Environmental Aspects
Policy, Legal and Regulatory Aspects
Economics and Financing
Sustainability and Climate Change
Case Histories
Societal and Cultural Aspects
Business Strategies
Geothermal Education
Geoscience
Exploration
Geology
Geophysics
Geochemistry
Hydrogeology
Resource Assessment
Geomicrobiology
Engineering
Drilling and Completion Technology
Reservoir Engineering
Injection Technology
Field Management
Production Engineering, Steam Gathering Systems
Power Generation
Corrosion and Scaling
Direct Use
Geothermal Heat Pumps
Cross‐cutting
EGS ‐ Enhanced Geothermal Systems
Big Data and Data Analytics
Software for Geothermal Applications
Health, Tourism and Balneology
District Heating
Agriculture
Advanced Technology (Magma, Geopressure, etc.)
Integrated Energy Systems, Cascaded Uses
Minerals Extraction and Processing
Other
Source: http://www.wgc2020.com/

The technical program committee of the WGC 2020,
chaired by Roland N. Horne, has launched the call forwww.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

14

AFRICA

necessary mechanical and electrical supplements, civil
works and control system and measurement.

Djibouti: Loans for
Geothermal Plant and Project

Project implementation is expected to be completed by
the end of 2021.

On late March, a loan agreement over the amount of
KWD 8 million (Kuwaiti Dinar) or around $27 million
for the financing of a 15 MW geothermal power projectin Djibouti.

The Loan is made for a term of 25 years, including agrace period of 5 years, and is to be amortized in 40
semi-annual installments, the first of which will be dueon the first date on which interest or other charges on
the loan will fall due, in accordance with the Loan
Agreement, after the expiry of the grace period. The
loan bears an interest rate at 2% per annum, in addition
to 0.5% per annum to cover administrative costs andother expenses incurred in the implementation of the
Loan Agreement.

The loan agreement between the Republic of Djibouti
and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development,
stipulates the extension of a Loan of Kuwaiti Dinars
K.D. 8 million equivalent to about US$ 27.2 million, to
the Republic of Djibouti to assist in the financing of a
Geothermal Power Station Project with a planned
capacity of 15 MW. An agreement (Project Agreement),
concerning arrangements for implementation of the
Project, was also signed between Kuwait Fund for Arab
Economic Development and Djibouti Geothermal
Power Corporation which is undertaking the Project. It
is worth-mentioning that the Fund is a Kuwaiti Public
Corporation which relies entirely on its own resources
for making loans and providing other kinds ofdevelopment assistance”.

In separate news, it was announced the award ofanother loan to what seems to be a different geothermal
project located in the Fiale Caldera, in the same Lake
Assal. It is a saline lake, 155 meters below sea level,
situated in central-western Djibouti at the top of theGreat Rift Valley. The geothermal potential of the area,
known for its seismic and volcanic activity, has beenstudied for many years and now the drilling campaign tocapture this energy is under way.

The Loan Agreement was signed on behalf of the
Republic of Djibouti by His Excellency Elias Mousa
Douala, while the Project Agreement was signed onbehalf of Djibouti Geothermal Power Corporation by
Eng. Qeyad Mousa Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer ofthe said Authority. Mr. Hesham Al-Waqayan, Deputy
Director-General of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development, signed both the Loan and Project
Agreements on behalf of Kuwait Fund.
The project aims to contribute to meet part of thedemand for electricity in Djibouti, reduce theinterruption of electricity services and reduce the importof fuel and electricity from abroad, through theestablishment of a new power station using geothermalenergy through the use of renewable local resources.
The project also aims to protect the environment fromcontaminants from thermal stations using fossil fuels.
The project includes the drilling of about 10 wells forthe production of steam and reclaimed water reinjection and the construction of a 15 MW power
station at Jalla Koma (Phase I), 120 km west of thecapital, Djibouti, in the area of Lake Assal. The newgeneration station will be connected to the central
network by a 230 kV transmission line and a length ofabout 2 km. It also includes consulting services.
The project also includes the supply, installation andtesting of three units of power generation each of about
5 MW with the necessary requirements to connect thestation to the electrical network, spare parts and all the
www.geothermal-energy.org

Scheme of wells to be drilled in Fiale Caldera.
Taken from the second source.
The project in the Fiale Caldera area of Lake Assal
consists of drilling four exploration wells for a new
geothermal power plant, set to come on-line in 2021.
The power plant will have a total capacity of 50 MW.
The Fiale project is managed by the ProjectManagement Unit under the authority of Electricity of
Djibouti, EDD. It is financed by the World Bank, theJuly-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
African Bank for Development, OPIC, French Agency
for Development, GEF and ESMAP.
The produced fluid from the wells is expected to beconcentrated sea water that has been heated to around
305°C, although the temperatures could be as high as
360°C at the bottom of the well. The wells will be
drilled directionally, reaching vertical depth of 2500
meters.
Sources: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/kuwait-fundextends-27-million-loan-for-geothermal-plant-indjibouti/,
http://www.vallourec.com/EN/group/MEDIA/News/Pages/geothermie-djibouti.aspx

Ethiopia: Additional Funds to
Tendaho Project
On June 21st 2018, two grants agreements were signed
between the Ethiopian Minister of Finance andEconomic Cooperation, the Embassy of France toEthiopia and the French Agency for Development(AFD), in Addis Abeba, for a total of 18 million euros
US$21 million).
With one of the agreements, 8 million euros grant will
be provided in contribution to the Tendaho Geothermal
Development Project. It is funded by the European
Union, through the European Union Africa
Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-AITF). This investment
grant constitutes an additional funding to this project,which already benefited from a 9 million euros
concessional loan from AFD and a total of 7.5 million
euros from previous EU-AITF grants. The financing
will enable to complete the drilling activities planned aspart of the geothermal exploration and development
effort in the Afar region.

15
The Tendaho project is implemented by Ethiopian
Electric Power (EEP), in coordination with Geological
Survey of Ethiopia (GSE). The activities will focus ondeveloping a shallow reservoir in Tendaho in order toallow a sustainable exploitation with estimated capacityof 10MW, and on exploiting a deep reservoir by drillingwells at great depth.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is the
French bilateral development bank, which has beenworking for more than 70 years implementing Frenchdevelopment-aid policy. In 2017, AFD committed for10.4 billion euros (US$ 12.16 billion) financing
worldwide.
Source: http://addisstandard.com/news-frenchdevelopment-agency-provides-18-million-euros-forurban-and-geothermal-development-in-ethiopia/

Kenya: Expansion of Olkaria
III, Possibly New FiT, Grants
and Loans for Geothermal
Projects
Expansion Plant of Olkaria III in Operation –Ormat Technologies Inc. announced in late June thatthe 11 MW Plant 1 expansion project in the Olkaria III
complex in Kenya successfully completed its tests andcommenced commercial operation on June 2, 2018.
Since 2000, Ormat has developed and expanded the
Olkaria III complex in phases and increased its
generating capacity from 13 MW to 139 MW by 2016.
With the completion of the 11 MW expansion project,
the total generating capacity of the complex has reached
150 MW. The scope of the project included drilling of
new wells, adding a new Ormat Energy Converter unit,
and optimizing other existing units.
The electricity generated from the
expanded Plant 1 will be sold to Kenya
Power and Lighting Company Limited
under the terms of Plant 1 within the
Olkaria III complex power purchaseagreement (PPA).
Plant 1 expansion was financed byOrmat corporate sources and it iscovered under a political insurance
umbrella policy from leading global
insurers in the private sector to cover
exposure to certain political risks
involved in operating in developing
countries.
“Kenya has a large geothermal potential
along the East African Rift,”
commented Isaac Angel, Ormat’sCEO. “Tapping into this potential

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July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
supports improved access to electricity and also
contributes to the economy of Kenya. During peak
construction of the Olkaria III Plant 1 expansion, morethan 200 workers were hired locally. In addition, several
employees were hired permanently and joined theOrmat team in the Olkaria III complex.”
Source:http://investor.ormat.com/file/Index?KeyFile=394036
901
Plans to Scrap the Current FiT – Kenya is planning
to replace the current feed-in-tariff (FiT) system with anenergy auction tariff in which the government willaward energy contracts to companies offering the lowest
electricity tariffs.
Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy
Isaac Kiva says the auction model will replace thecurrent feed-in-tariff system where investors identify
potentially viable power projects and then acquire
licenses to operate them at pre-determined rates.
For the last ten years, Kenya has been using the feed-intariff model where investors interested in investing inwind power, geothermal, solar, hydropower andbiomass energy sources are offered a power purchaseagreement to construct the power plant and sell theelectricity to Kenya power.
However, the model has been criticized as being
responsible for making power tariffs expensive.
The government now plans to scrap this with an auction
system where tenders are given for the company
offering the lowest rates.
The Ministry of Energy has drafted a bill which willoffer more incentives to renewable energy investors.

16
The World Bank’s IDA was established in 1960 andhelps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants
and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs
that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, andimprove poor people’s lives.
This IDA Guarantee will build on Kenya’s gains thathave diversified the energy mix and significantly
improved electrification bringing much needed energy
to millions of households and businesses. Ultimately,
these gains lower the cost of electricity.
“Affordable and accessible electricity is essential toensuring that Kenyan businesses remain competitive in
the international market, allows women and youth to
run their businesses safely late into the night within
informal settlements and strengthens citizen
contribution into growing Kenya’s economy,” said
Diarietou Gaye, World Bank Country Director for
Kenya. “This is what Kenya needs if it is to achieve a
middle-income economy status by 2030.”
KenGen today manages 70% of Kenya’s generation
capacity of 1,631 megawatts making it one of the largest
in East Africa. The project supports KenGen in raising
up to US$300 million in long-term commercial
financing to be used to refinance an expensive portionof KenGen’s existing commercial loans, enhancing
KenGen’s credit quality and promoting sustainable
development of renewable energy in Kenya.
“This IDA Guarantee will solidify KenGen’s financial

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL ENDORSED BY THE
IGA

Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy
Isaac Kiva says more than 800 companies havebenefited from the time of use tariff plan introduced lastDecember offering large power consumers a 50 per centdiscount on power used between 10pm and 6am.
More than 3,000 large companies are yet to enjoy thetime of use tariffs since they do not operate at night.
Kenya plans to use low power tariffs to lure moreinvestors into the country to drive the big four agenda
on manufacturing.
Source: http://www.kbc.co.ke/kenya-to-scrap-currentfeed-in-tariff-system/
US$180 Million Loan Guarantee for KenGen - The
World Bank announced on late April the approval of a
US$180 million International Development Association(IDA) Guarantee to mobilize private sector financing tostrengthen the financial position of Kenya Electricity
Generation Company Limited (KenGen) and buildenergy security for all Kenyans.
www.geothermal-energy.org

TAKE A LOOK HERE.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
position as the company pursues its aspirations towards
geothermal development, building energy security for all
Kenyans, and becoming a sustainable energy hallmark in
Africa,” said Mariano Salto, World Bank Energy
Economist and Task Team Leader.
Source:http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/pressrelease/2018/04/26/kenya-world-bank-approves-180million-to-support-energy-sector
Grant for Exploration in Western Kenya - Kenya
renewable energy firm Capital Power has secured
US$720,000 from the African Union Commission(AUC) for start the exploration of a 140 megawatts(MW) geothermal prospect in Homa Bay County.
Currently, this is the only geothermal prospect known inwestern Kenya.
Director Tony Wanyama said the funds will be used to
conduct a surface study and infrastructure upgrade
program at the Homa Hill. The grant represents 80 per
cent of the total cost of the surface exploration,
estimated at US$1.07 million. Capital Power willconduct the studies starting this year, with thecommissioning of the power plant expected by 2023.
AUC Commissioner for infrastructure and energy
Amani Abou-Zeid (represented by Philippe Niyongabo)said the grant is part of efforts to support geothermalenergy development in eastern Africa, which has apotential of over 20,000 MW.
In other related news, Henry Rotich, the Cabinet
Secretary for National Treasury of Kenya, twitted that
the Kenyan government has allocated Sh 12.7 billion(~US$125 million) for geothermal energy in the budget
for 2018/19.
Source:https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/markets/marketnews/Homa-Bay-geothermal-firmgets-exploration-millions/3815534-4578486a4o4al/index.html,
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/kenyangovernment-allocates-125-million-forgeothermal-exploration-201819/

17
capacity of 105 MW. The project is part of the CTF
Geothermal Concessional Finance Program under the
Dedicated Private Sector Program designed to financeprograms that can deliver development results, impact,private-sector leverage and investment at scale and canbe deployed rapidly and efficiently.
Amadou Hott, Vice-President, Power, Energy, Climate
and Green Growth at the ADB, welcomed the approval,
noting that “the partnership between the African
Development Bank and the CIF to contribute to
Kenya’s efforts in scaling up the development of thisrenewable resource and boost economic growth iscommendable. The deployment of CTF funds is directly
contributing to unlocking the power of the private
sector in driving long-lasting market transformation andmitigating risks in the geothermal power sector.”
Quantum Power-Menengai Geothermal Project, thesecond geothermal independent power project in
Kenya, will strengthen public-private partnerships andenable the country to harness its abundant geothermal
resources to provide reliable, low-cost, environmentallyfriendly base-load electricity. It supports theGovernment’s Big Four growth agenda and reinforces
the Bank’s commitment to its strategy to ‘Light up andpower Africa’ and ‘Industrialize Africa’.
“The African Development Bank has invested
considerable resources and time in the development of
the Menengai geothermal steam field with the objectiveof enabling Kenya to find a productive source of steam
for on-grid power generation,” said Anthony Nyong,
Director for Climate Change and Green Growth at the
ADB.
GDC’s drilling rig at Menengai field (Photo by Lcagn).

Loans for US$49.5 Million for 35MW
Project in Menengai - The African
Development Bank (ADB) approved on June
6, 2018 a senior loan of US$29.5 million and aconcessional loan of US$20 million from the
Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Clean
Technology Fund (CTF) to Quantum Power
East Africa GT Menengai Ltd.
The funding will support the development of a
35MW geothermal power plant at the
Menengai geothermal field in Nakuru County,
Kenya, one of three modular geothermal
plants in the Menengai field with a combinedwww.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
The project will provide positive environmental effects
and contribute to green growth by developing
renewable energy infrastructure (annual savings of up to
95,100 tons of CO2 equivalent) and increase the baseload, grid-connected generation capacity (potential toserve 48,800 households per year), at a low generation
cost of 7 cents/kWh.
This will be the first independent power project towhich the Bank is providing debt funding as a nonsovereign operation. As the deal’s mandated leadarranger, the Bank is mobilizing all necessary debt
funding from other development finance institutions.
Source: https://www.afdb.org/en/news-andevents/the-african-development-bank-and-the-climateinvestment-funds-support-their-first-private-sector-ledgeothermal-power-plant-in-kenya-18233/

Malawi: Toshiba Signs MoU for
Geothermal PowerMultinational Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions on
early May signed four memoranda of understanding(MoUs) to cooperate with African countries to develophydropower and geothermal energy systems.
One of the MoUs was concluded with Malawi’s Ministryof Natural Resources, Energy and Mining (MNREM)
for the development, supply of equipment, developmentof operational and management guidelines and to
facilitate capacity building programs for geothermal
power in Malawi. The country is located in the southern
tip of the African Rift Valley and is supposed to have an
important geothermal potential.

18
Specifically, the agreement includes feasibility andgeotechnical work, early construction and the supply ofgeothermal power generation equipment, including a 1
MW to 10 MW geothermal wellhead system.
“The MoU with MNREM anticipates a comprehensive
partnership in geothermal power projects, including
capacity building programs in relation to geothermal
technology. Toshiba has an installed geothermal base of
56 turbine systems totaling 3628 MW. Toshiba willcontinue to contribute to stable electricity supply andthe realization of a low-carbon economy across theglobe,” said Toshiba Africa MD Iwasuke Shimada.
Additionally, Toshiba provides opportunities for local
partners or subsidiary employees to complete masters
and doctorate degrees at Japanese universities,
specifically on geothermal sciences, including chemical,
electrical, geological, mechanical and electronicengineering, said Toshiba business development
executive Toyoaki Fujita.
Toshiba also aims to help reduce no-load losses,
estimated between 8% and 18% across Africa, throughthe use of its amorphous distribution transformers,
which has an amorphous metal core and requires lessmaintenance than most other transformers.
Toyoaki highlighted the changing nature of financing
and development of energy systems, and notes thatToshiba has signed MoUs with power leasing
companies in anticipation of private sector-financed
small-grid and renewable energy solutions.
Source:http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/toshibasigns-african-energy-development-mous-2018-0503/rep_id:4136

Tunisia: Increasing Output
and Export of Geothermally
Grown Tomatoes

MALAWIThe North-African country of Tunisia has low enthalpy
geothermal resources, located primarily in the southernpart of the country. In recent news it was reported thatexports of geothermal early crops in the governorate ofGabes, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, reached
14 thousand tons until June 2018, against 9,700 tons inthe same period of last year.
Among these products are mainly tomatoes of very
good quality exported to the European markets and the
Gulf countries, said Amel Ghiloufi, head of plant
production at the Regional Commission for Agricultural
Development in Gabes.

African Rift Valley (red) and Malawi (Credit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curi
d=215385).
www.geothermal-energy.org

The cultivation of geothermal crops is widespread
especially in El Hamma where the areas reached 128
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
hectares. In the region, 11 companies and 40 small
farmers operate in this agricultural activity.
During the past season, the production of geothermal
early crops in the Gabes region was 25 million tons, ofwhich 12 thousand tons were exported.
A Tunisian-Dutch company based in the area of El
Hamma in the governorate of Gabes built the first hightech glass greenhouse in North Africa, producing “oxheart” tomatoes back in 2016. The company, Maison del'oasis, has invested in 4.5 hectares and plans to makeextensions to reach 20 hectares of glasshouses.

Photo credit: Maison de l’oasis.
For thousands of years, geothermal water has been usedin bathing in the country. Now, most of the resources
are utilized for irrigation or oases and heating ofgreenhouses. Today, the cultivated area of greenhouse is244 ha.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/tunisiaincreasing-output-and-export-of-geothermally-growntomatoes-to-european-and-gulf-countries/

AMERICAS
Canada: Modular Plants, Two
Geothermal Projects andProposed Royalties
Modular Mini Plants to Be Installed in British
Columbia this Year - The Swedish company Climeon
received the world’s first order for a geothermal power
plant in Canada from Borealis GeoPower. The orderrelates to a demonstration project named Sustainaville,in Valemount, British Columbia. It includes delivery of
three 150kW Climeon modules and is valued at
approximately one million euros (US$1.23 million).
The municipality of Valemount is situated near the endof a transmission line. The distributed power
production from the Climeon Heat Power solution willcontribute to Valemount’s economic development by
providing additional energy to the area. Borealis
www.geothermal-energy.org

19
GeoPower has conducted extensive field work and isconfident that the Climeon Heat Power system canoperate at optimal levels even when there are large
variations in flow and temperature.
Drilling of the wells will start in the spring of 2018 andthe delivery of the Climeon Heat Power modules isplanned for the end of 2018. Together with Borealis
GeoPower, Climeon is taking an important step todemonstrate the viability of commercial geothermal heat
power in Canada.
The demonstration project makes Borealis GeoPower aleader in the Canadian geothermal sphere. Longer term,
the company aims to make remote communities lessdependent on fossil fuels by heating and fully powering
them with clean energy from geothermal resources.
Canada is the only large country in the volcanic areasurrounding the Pacific Ocean, called the Ring of Fire,
which still lacks geothermal power production. Canada
is estimated to have similar geothermal potential as the
U.S., which has 3.5 GW of installed geothermal power
production capacity. Canada’s know-how and expertisefrom the oil and gas industry together with theprogressive geothermal sector sets a good foundation
for the geothermal market to accelerate in the coming
years.
Natural Resources Canada contributed CAD 1.541
million (US$1.207 million) through its Energy
Innovation Program.
“Our impact goes deeper than the drilling. We provide
energy and food security solutions with an emphasis on‘please in my backyard’ from the local community andIndigenous Peoples. We look forward to working withthe low temperature Heat Power market leader Climeon
and our myriad stakeholders on bringing the
Sustainaville project to life. Thanks goes out to the
British Columbia and other governments involved inthis project for their continued support,” said Alison
Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of Borealis
GeoPower.
Source: https://climeon.com/investorenglish/?type=single&title=climeon-wins-the-world-sfirst-geothermal-heat-power-order-in-canada
Drilling Started in Geothermal Project in
Saskatchewan - The Government of the Province of
Saskatchewan has announced funding of CAD 175,000(around US$136,000) for geothermal developer Deep
Earth Energy Production Corporation (DEEP). This
company is working on developing a geothermal power
demonstration plant in the Estevan area in Southern
Saskatchewan, and will receive the funds over two years
through Innovation Saskatchewan’s Saskatchewan
Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF). With the funding
the company will be able to buy equipment and work on
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

20

necessary infrastructure to prove the feasibility of ageothermal power plant in the province.

Resources. “Our government is proud to support
Borealis to discover how this demonstration project
may lead to further geothermal energy deployments thatwill help our country create a brighter future.”

The funding by SAIF is in line with the provincial
government’s commitment to innovate and develop
technological solutions to reduce the province’s
greenhouse gas emissions.

Maureen Kolla, Manager Clean Power and Heat for
Alberta Innovates says the opportunities for geothermal
power to create renewable electricity and other forms of
low-carbon energy are exciting and projects like this areat the frontier of the new economy. Alberta Innovates is
a provincially-funded corporation focused on Alberta’s
research and technology development and aims todiversify
theprovincial
economy,improveenvironmental performance and enhance Albertans’
well-being.

“Saskatchewan is already a world leader in innovative
carbon capture and storage technologies that reducegreenhouse gas emissions,” said Tina Beaudry-Mellor,the minister responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan.
DEEP has completed a pre-feasibility study for the
project and expects to start initial drilling for a
production and injection well in June 2018, with an
expected drilling depth of 3,400 meters. Tests will
determine if the project is economically feasible.
Construction would then continue throughout 2018.

Source:https://www.therockymountaingoat.com/2018/06/groundbreaking-geothermal-drilling-finally-begins/

Source: http://www.estevanmercury.ca/news/businessenergy/government-announces-funding-forgeothermal-project-near-estevan-1.23302617

Proposed Geothermal Royalties in British
Columbia - British Columbia’s Ministry of Energy,
Mines and Petroleum Resources (EMPR) is considering
the development of a royalty regulation under the
Geothermal Resources Act (GRA), and proposed aroyalty framework and regulation, asking for comments
up to past July 15th, 2018.

Exploration Drilling Started in the Canoe Reach
Project – Borealis GeoPower, a Calgary-based energy
company began drilling of four geothermal test wells
near the Canoe Reach geothermal project, Alberta, on
June 11, 2008.

British Columbia already charges royalties for the
production or use of its mineral, petroleum, and clean
energy resources. Existing royalties for clean energy can
be classified into two types: ad valorem and specific. Ad
valorem rates are determined as a percentage of themarket value based on the sale price; specific rates arecalculated on a quantity, rather than revenue, basis.

The four geothermal test wells, if successful, could giverise to the first geothermal power plant in the country,
potentially supplying the valley with stable local power.
The test well will show how the temperature increases
with depth and, with luck, will confirm the exploration
work already been done in the area over the last eight
years.
This is the first exploratory drill-hole in the area despite
an interest in the area’s geothermal resources datingback to the 1970s.

Some countries like United States, Australia and Kenya
impose (or are planning to impose, as in the case of
Kenya) different royalties to geothermal developments,
as is presented in the table (see below).

In a press release issued just before drilling commenced,
Borealis GeoPower’s CEO Alison Thompson thanked
all three provincial political parties including NDP
Minister of Energy Michelle Mungall who had a hand in
approving the drilling. Notably the project is being
supported by national and provincial researchorganizations including the National Research Counciland Alberta Innovates.

Now, EMPR proposes to apply an ad valorem royalty of
3% following an initial 10 year royalty holiday (seeattached figure), similar to the wind participation rent,
for any electricity or energy that is sold. This rate isaligned with the wind participation rent, which is 1%3% of gross revenue with the highest 3% rate applied
for developments with greater than a 40% annual
capacity factor. Geothermal energy plants typically have

“Through
thisdemonstrationofrenewable power, wehave the opportunity
to showcase clean,reliableenergygeneration,” said the
Honourable
Jim
Carr,
Canada’s
Minister of Natural

Jurisdiction

Royalty
Rate

United States
California,
Federal lands Washington,
State lands
1.75% year
(1-10 years)
3.75% year
(11+ years)

10%

Tasmania,
Western
Australia

2.5%

Australia
New
South
Wales

4%

South
Australia
2.5%
Royaltyholiday until
project
payoutKenya(proposed)
1-2.5% forfirst 10years; 2-5%
thereafter

Table: Jurisdictional comparison of geothermal royalties in three countries.

www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
capacity factors around 90%, so the 3% royalty ratewould apply. In 2005, at the time the land use policy
governing wind energy plants was developed, a 10 year
royalty holiday was given as an incentive for the thennascent wind industry. EMPR proposes a similar royalty
holiday for the initial ten years of production for ageothermal development. The royalty holiday may be reevaluated in future as the industry develops andmatures.
An alternative royalty model, an inclining ad valorem
royalty rate which starts low with scheduled increases,
was also considered. In this proposed option,
geothermal projects would be subject to an initial rate of
0.25% and increases every 5 years by 0.75% to a
maximum of 3% (see attached figure). Royalty payments
would commence in the first year of production (i.e., noroyalty holiday). When compared to royalty schemesthat do not have a royalty holiday this royalty type
would provide a front-end incentive with low royalty
rates at the start of the project to improve project
economics.

21
law 19.998 that authorizes the agreement of a line ofcredit for US$500 million to the Costa Rican Electricity
Institute (ICE) from the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB).
The instrument, known as the CCLIP (Conditional
Credit Line for Investment Projects), will be aimed at
the development, modernization and expansion of
infrastructure linked to renewable electricity generation
projects, including the Borinquen Geothermal Field, as
well as transmission networks and national distribution.
The negotiation of this CCLIP between the ICE and the
IDB began in 2013. The Government of Costa Rica is
the guarantor of the investment, through the Ministry of
Finance. The agreement between the three actors was
signed in February 2016, and had to go throughlegislative approval to become the law of the Republic.
“This is a sample of the excellent reputation that Costa
Rica has before the international financial organizations.
The funds will be vital for the de-carbonization of oureconomy. I congratulate the deputies for ratifying thecredit line and I thank the
IDB for the confidence
shown through of the years
with the Institute,” said Irene
Cañas, executive president of
ICE.

Proposed and alternative geothermal royalty rate for BC.
Since the GRA requires that royalties, or a payment inlieu of royalties, must be provided to the government
for the use of the Crown’s geothermal resources, the BC
Government intends to proceed with a royalty rate of
3% following a ten-year royalty holiday aligning
geothermal royalties with the wind participation rent.
Source:https://www.geothermalcanada.org/news/2018/6/7/b
c-royalties-proposal-comments-requested

Costa Rica: Legislative
Assembly Approved IDB
Credit Line for Electric
Projects
On middle May, the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly
unanimously approved in the second debate the bill of
www.geothermal-energy.org

The CCLIP granted by the
IDB -under very favorable
financial conditions- will be
executed through up to three
individual loan contracts,
according to the investment
needs determined by the ICE
for the country in its
expansion plans for futureyears.

Source:http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/electricpower/l
egislative-assembly-approves-500-million-idb-creditline-for-electric-projects/

Mexico: New CEMIE-Geo
Company Formed
Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, Editor
On late 2017 it was officially constituted a commercial,non-profit company called CEMIE-Geo, AC,
composed by most of the partners of the Project
CeMIE-Geo. This is a project launched by the Mexican
Energy Ministry (Sener) and the Mexican Council for
Science and Technology (Conacyt) through a funding
trust for energetic sustainability (FSE: Fondo deSustentabilidad Energética). The project started four years
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
ago and since then has been developing 30 technicalprojects and two transversal projects (laboratories andhuman resources), funded with 956 million pesos(almost US$50 million at the current exchange rate). Its
30 projects include improvements in exploration tools
and methods, Mexico’s EGS potential, development
and testing direct-use prototypes, improvement ofconduction pipes and turbine materials, and specificstudies in geothermal areas (see IGA News 95, pp. 1516)
The center is a consortium composed of 22 entities
headed by CICESE (The Center for Scientific Researchand High Studies of Ensenada). Twelve members are
public research institutes and universities, including
CICESE, the national university (UNAM), theMichoacán University (UMSNH), the Baja California
polytechnic university (UPBC), and the ElectricResearch Institute (IIE). Nine are private companies,
and the 22nd entity is CFE. A steering group (Grupo
Directivo) was formed, composed of three
representatives from private companies, two
representatives each from UNAM and UMSNH, andone representative from CICESE, IIE and CFE. The
CEMIE-Geo will never have any physical offices or an
administrative structure. Management
activities will be undertaken by thecurrent management of the 22 parties(see IGA News 95, pp. 15-16).
Currently, the CeMIE-Geo isfinishing its seven semester stage,
with the eight, last stage, to be completed in October
2018. Most of the 30 projects have been finished in theprevious stages, but the Grupo Directivo has decided to
ask the FSE for an extension of at least a couple ofmonths and perhaps an additional nine stage of six
more months, with no additional funds.
Anyway, one of the requirements stated by the FSE
since the beginning of the CeMIE-Geo, was theconsortium should manage itself to form a permanentorganization that subsists beyond the original four years,
with the aim to try to commercialize the results of the
projects able to do that. Some of the 30 technicalprojects included testing prototypes of products and/or
technologies in an advanced level of development that
could be offered to the geothermal industry, and theidea was the CeMIE-Geo could to do that through aspecial purpose company or something similar. With
that requirement, the FSE tried to concrete and land at
least some of the investment.
For that reason, the board of the CeMIE-Geo discussed
several options of companies that the commercial
regulation includes in Mexico, that allow to start thepossible commercialization of some of the products andservices (in particular, the many and specialized analyses
the CeMIE-Geo laboratories are capable of offer), but
www.geothermal-energy.org

22that also allow the public universities and research
centers that are part of the consortium.to be part of the
new company. It was finally decided to constitute a
company known as a civil association (AC: Asociación
Civil), which was officially registered in Mexico City in
October 2017. The official name is CeMIE-Geo, AC,and it is a legal company whose purpose is offer the
products and services of its members.
CeMIE-Geo, AC was formed initially by only threepublic entities: CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad),
CICESE and UPBC (Polytechnic University of Baja
California), and eight private companies BajaInnova,
ClusterGeo, Geocónsul, Geominco, GENERA,
Geotem, GS Energía and Prados Camelinas. Currently
are also members the two public universities ofMichoacán (UMSNH) and Guadalajara (UdeG), as wellas the private companies Turbopartes and JL Energía.
Excepting the latter, all of the members of the company
are also members of the initial consortium.
The board of the CEMIE-Geo, AC, is formed by the
President, Silvio Marinone (CICESE), the Vice
President Magaly Flores (CFE), the Secretary Luis
Gutiérrez Negrín (Geocónsul) and the Treasurer Juan
Jesús Algravez (UPBC).

U.S.: Forge, DOE Funding
Projects, Companies
Movements, Micro Plants,
Puna Geothermal Plant,
Support to Fossil and Nuclear
PlantsForge Project Goes to Milford, Utah - The U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) announced on middle
June that the University of Utah will receive up to
US$140 million in continued funding over the next five
years for cutting-edge geothermal research anddevelopment. After three years of planning, sitecharacterization, and competition, the proposed site
outside Milford, Utah has been selected as the locationof the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal
Energy (FORGE) field laboratory dedicated to researchon enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), or manmade
geothermal reservoirs.
The University of Utah’s Milford site was one of thetwo finalists announced in August 2016 by the DOE,
altogether with the site in Fallon Nevada, proposed by
the team headed by the Sandia National Laboratories.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Both teams got US$29 million in funding to fully
instrumentalize, characterize and permit the candidate
sites in the last stage of competition that finished inJune with the announce of the winner (see IGA News
105, p. 17).
“Enhanced geothermal systems are the future ofgeothermal energy, and critical investments in EGS will
help advance American leadership in clean energy
innovation,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.
“Funding efforts toward the next frontier in geothermalenergy technologies will help diversify the United States'
domestic energy portfolio, enhance our energy access,and increase our energy security.”

EGS has the potential to significantly expand
geothermal energy production by harnessing more than
100 gigawatts of clean, efficient electricity that iscurrently inaccessible. Exceptional, creative, andresponsible technological innovation, such as that taking
place at FORGE, is not only necessary to bring EGS totechnical maturity, but also a critical step on the path toAmerican energy security and global geothermal energy
leadership.
Critical to broad EGS deployment, FORGE will be alaboratory where scientists and researchers can learn
how to engineer these manmade systems. The
geothermal community will gain a fundamental
understanding of the key mechanisms controlling EGS
success; develop, test, and improve new techniques in
an ideal EGS environment; and rapidly disseminate
technical data and communicate to the public.

23
reliable, baseload renewable energy source with firm andflexible operation, allowing it to provide a range ofessential services that contribute to our nation’s gridstability and resiliency.”
The U.S. currently has an installed geothermal capacityof more than 3.8 gigawatts (GW), and there is an
estimated 100 GW or more of additional potential
geothermal development accessible in undiscoveredhydrothermal and enhanced geothermal systems.
Technological innovation is necessary to economicallyconvert these resources into cost-effective energy
services.
The EDGE FOA aims to continue and expand GTO’s
R&D in geothermal drilling by covering three topic
areas:
Topic Area 1 focuses on early-stage R&D projects to
reduce common delays in drilling operations like lost
circulation, stuck pipe, unstable wellbores, and otherissues that take time away from deepening the hole,typically referred to as non-drilling time.
Topic Area 2 focuses on early-stage R&D projects ininnovative drilling technologies that improve the rates
of penetration for drilling geothermal wells.
Topic Area 3 focuses on exploring innovative
approaches and models to accelerate the transfer ofgeothermal drilling and related technologies from thelaboratory into the real world by focusing on building
partnerships that will increase adoption of nascenttechnology and improving knowledge transfer in thegeothermal industry.
The application process will include two phases: aConcept Paper phase and a Full Application phase.
Applications for first phase were closed on May 31,
2018.

Source: https://www.energy.gov/articles/departmentenergy-selects-university-utah-site-140-milliongeothermal-research-and

Source: https://www.energy.gov/articles/departmentenergy-announces-145-million-advance-geothermaldrilling-technologies

DOE Announces US$14.5 Million to Advance
Geothermal Drilling Technologies - The U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) announced on late April
up to US$14.5 million in new funding to advancegeothermal energy development. The Efficient Drillingfor Geothermal Energy (EDGE) funding opportunity
announcement (FOA) will focus on geothermal drillingin support of accelerating the research and developmentof innovative geothermal energy technologies in
America.

DOE Announces Funding for Geothermal Energy
Research - As part of the US$99 million announcementby the U.S. Secretary of Energy for Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small BusinessTechnology Transfer (STTR) research and development
projects, the Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE) will manage two new
projects that involve geothermal energy research. The“Advancing research in geothermal drilling technologies
will help harness the heat beneath our feet to expand
our domestic energy resources,” said Daniel Simmons,Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Geothermal is a
www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
awarded projects are the following.
E-Spectrum Technologies, Inc., from San Antonio, TX,
will get US$0.98 million for a Near-Real-TimeElectromagnetic Data-Link for Geothermal Downhole
Instruments. This project proposes a high-temperatureelectromagnetic tool to provide wireless, near-real-timeaccess to geothermal well downhole data in reservoirs
up to 300°C. The proposed effort will leverage existing
electromagnetic data transmission technology used foroil and gas exploration to provide a cost-effective means
to characterize underground environmental variables
such as bit vibration, downhole temperature, andpressure conditions. This capability will minimize risks
associated with developing geothermal energy as a viable
power source.
Olympic Research, Inc., from Port Townsend, WA, will
receive around US$1 million for Controlled-Porosity
Ceramic Materials for High Temperature Downhole
Applications. Advanced geothermal energy production
is challenged by the harsh thermal and chemical
environments
posedbyfluidsproduced in geothermal wells. This
technology introduces a novel methodof forming high performance ceramiccomponents in place to extend theoperating life of the well components.

24
project in Crescent Valley, Nevada; and the El Ceibillo
project located near Guatemala City, Guatemala.
The operating assets sell power under existing powerpurchase agreements at favorable price terms for theelectricity, with an aggregated contract capacity of 55
MW. Ormat plans to improve the acquired operating
assets and implement synergies and cost reductions
which are expected to improve profitability of theoperating projects by approximately 50% during 2019.
Source:http://investor.ormat.com/file/Index?KeyFile=393150
291
JV Between Dajin Resources and GDA - Dajin
Resources Corp. has announced that it has signed a
Joint Venture Agreement (JV) with Geothermal
Development Associates (GDA), Reno, Nevada. The
main GDA’s line of business is the development ofgeothermal resources for electrical generation, and theyhold geothermal leases that overlap Dajin’s placer claimsin the Teels Marsh valley (see figure below).

Source:https://www.energy.gov/articles/depa
rtment-energy-announces-99-millionsmall-business-research-anddevelopment-grants
Ormat Closes the Acquisition of
U.S.
Geothermal
Ormat
Technologies, Inc. announced on late
April that it has closed the previously
announced acquisition of U.S.
Geothermal, Inc. for a total
consideration of around US$110
million, comprising approximately
US$106 million funded in cash by thecompany to acquire the outstanding
shares of common stock of U.S.
Geothermal, Inc., and approximately US$4 million,
funded from available cash of U.S. Geothermal, Inc., tocash-settle outstanding in the money options to acquire
outstanding shares of U.S. Geothermal, Inc.
As a result of the acquisition, Ormat now owns andoperates U.S. Geothermal’s three power plants at Neal
Hot Springs, Oregon, San Emidio, Nevada and RaftRiver, Idaho with a total net generating capacity of
approximately 38 MW. In addition, Ormat now owns
development assets held by U.S. Geothermal, which
include a project at the Geysers, California; a second
phase project at San Emidio, Nevada; a greenfield
www.geothermal-energy.org

As a result of this JV, GDA and Dajin will share
exploration data with the ultimate aim of supporting thedevelopment of a Lithium brine extraction facility as
well as development of a geothermal plant for electricalgeneration and the production of direct-use thermal
water. This agreement outlines a cooperative
relationship where both companies will be focusing on
their key strengths to mutually develop Lithium brine
and renewable energy resources.
The Dajin’s Teels Marsh valley lithium brine project
includes identified lithium-bearing brines, possession of
granted water rights and minimal land fragmentation.
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IGA News No. 112
The basin beneath the playa is up to 2500 meters deep.
Prior geothermal exploration results indicate favorable
geochemistry and shallow temperatures of 97°C ad 40
m depth at the northwest portion of the valley. In
March 2017 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
accepted Dajin’s notice to proceed with civil works anddrilling as part of the exploration of lithium brines, andnow roads and drilling pads are under construction.
Source: http://www.dajin.ca/blog/post/dajinresources-and-geothermal-development-associates-signjoint-venture-agreement
Micro Power Plant in Surprise Valley Uses a Hot
Spring - In early May, the advanced-technology
company PwrCor, Inc. announced it has successfullylaunched its breakthrough heat conversion engine
technology at Surprise Valley Hot Springs in Modoc
County, California.
The engine is the first of its kind using the company’s
proprietary technology, designed and constructed by
PwrCor’s team and the Southwest Research Institute in
San Antonio, TX, and funded by the California Energy
Commission (CEC) and project participants. The
technology operates on more advanced thermodynamic
principles than the thermal pneumatic principles
employed by steam (Rankine cycle) engines and their
cousins, the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technologies.
The PwrCor™ technology uses the physical expansionof fluids under heat to drive a piston, has very low or nofuel costs, has no internal fuel combustion, produces nopollution, and operates silently.

25
a prime example of executing the Company’s strategy toapply its exclusive PwrCorTM technology to strategic
markets. In this case, the engine operates using ultralow-grade heat from a geothermal hot spring. The
machine utilizes a small flowing hot spring east of the
Surprise Valley resort by putting eleven 100 foot (~30m) long copper loops into the spring. “This spring runs
at 189 degrees F (87°C), but by covering the spring witha tarp we reduced evaporation and increased thetemperature of the spring to 206 degrees F (96°C). This
increased the efficiency of the machine,” said Curt Roseof Warner Mountain Energy, the company in charge ofthe project.
Most people envision big pipes and steam when they
think of geothermal energy plants, but this plant isdifficult to find in the surrounding landscape. “Thismachine is small enough it could be installed in a small
shed or basement,” explains Rose.
It was not informed the power capacity of the PwrCor
engine, but considering it is a distributed generation
demonstration project, whose energy is to be used by
the resort, it would be in the order of a few kilowatts.
PwrCorTM technology can cost effectively convert
ultra-low-grade heat to usable mechanical or electricalenergy. This is wasted energy that previously could not
be economically harnessed as usable power bycompeting technologies. The technology can be used inplace of or in conjunction with almost all existing
technologies, that uses no fossil fuels, does not operate
via combustion, has no emissions, and does not process
any working fluids that are flammable,
harmful to the environment, or costly toreplace. PwrCorTM is scalable, modular,
and runs relatively silently, all within asmall footprint.

Curt Rose is next to the hot spring that supplies the hot water. It was
tarped to keep the heat in and prevent evaporation. Photo by The
Modoc County Record.
The state-of-the-art engine had successfully passed arigorous testing regimen prior to being shipped to
California. The Surprise Valley geothermal installation iswww.geothermal-energy.org

California has vast amounts of ultralow-grade geothermalheat that
previously could not be economicallyutilized for the generation of electricity.
PwrCor’s technology can change that,
permitting the use of these resources foruninterrupted
base-load
power
production. With this plant, Modoc
County became the sixth county in
California to generate power fromgeothermal sources, but it was the firsttime ultra-low temperature (less than
90°C) geothermal water was used in thisfashion… And it doesn’t require to drilla single well.

Sources:
https://globenewswire.com/newsrelease/2018/05/01/1493998/0/en/PwrCorSuccessfully-Launches-New-Breakthrough-EnergyJuly-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Technology.html, http://www.pwrcor.com/wpcontent/uploads/2018/04/PwrCor-Surprise-ValleyHistory-Historic-day-4-15-18-trimmed-6.pdf,
http://www.pwrcorinfo.com/
Kilauea Eruption - The Kilauea volcano in the Hawaii
Big Island started to erupt on May 3rd, 2018, spewing
basaltic lava and high levels of sulfur dioxide into thearea. Three days after, at least 26 homes and 35
structures had been destroyed as a result of theeruption, which was followed by a 6.9-magnitude
earthquake on May 4th –theisland’s most powerful since1975, according to the US
Geological Survey. Around 25
volcanic
vents,
elongatedfractures, cracks or fissures inthe earth surface, have erupted
in evacuated neighborhoods on
the island, and all residents of
Leilani Estates, a community of
about 1700 people near the Big
Island’s eastern edge, and nearby
Lanipuna Gardens had to be
evacuated. Watch the stunningmovement of lava flow in thistime-lapse video.

26
iron plugs. On May 27th, lava covered the wellheads oftwo geothermal wells, KS-5 and KS-6.
“We developed a strategy, which was to quench thewell, plug the well, and remove topside equipment fromthe well so that it produces a low-profile to theoncoming lava, and we’ve accomplished that on all three
production wells on pad E,” Thomas Travis, Hawaii
Emergency Management Agency administrator, and oneof the people appointed by the governor to oversee theprocess of securing PGV, explained.

The Puna Geothermal Venture(PGV) is a 38 MW geothermal
power plant own and operatedby Ormat Technologies Inc. that
Iconic photo of the eruption: People play golf as an ash plume rises in theused to provide up to 22-25% of
distance from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island on May 15, 2018, in
the local power demand in
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. Photo credit Mario Tama / Getty.
Hawaii. Operators had to shutoff the plant and the wells since the first day of the“All three of those wells have been plugged,” he added.
eruption, and in coordination with the local authorities“Two of those wells have been quenched. We had to doproceeded to evacuate the facilities, leaving only somea different kind of plug on KS-14, but it was plugged
essential technical personal to monitor the lava flow.
and all of the wells, presenting minimum interference toPrecautionary measures were taken to remove
the lava. They’re all close to the ground and covered, so
flammable materials (the pentane working fluid) offsite.
the lava should go right over them”.
Hawaii’s Governor David Ige issued an emergency
It was informed that the valves on the top of the wells
declaration for the immediate removal of pentane, andcan easily withstand 2000°F (~1090°C) lava.
60,000 gallons (around 227 cubic meters) of pentane
were relocated to Shipman Business Park in Keaau.
Lava was pouring into the ocean at a location 5 km east
The other highly risky problem were the geothermal
wells. State and county officials talked with well experts
in California about how to seal the production wells toprevent the release of hydrogen sulfide if the wellhead
installation were compromised. Experts were brought into help secure the area and the plan was to start to plug
the wells after they were filled with cold water.
By May 22nd, workers managed to cap the 11th and final
well at the facility in anticipation of the lava eventuallyreaching the well pads, and to prevent theuncontrollable release of toxic gases. Cold water was
pumped into all 11 wells prior to capping them withwww.geothermal-energy.org

of the plant, producing noxious clouds of acid fumes,
steam, and glass-like particles –a phenomenon known as“laze,” a portmanteau of lava and haze. Laze ispotentially deadly if inhaled.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey announced
on May 23rd that the eruption was producing 15,000
tons of sulfur dioxide gas per day, an amount that is far
beyond the amounts normally produced at the Kilauea
Volcano summit or at the Puu Oo crater.
Michael Kaleikini, senior director of Hawaii affairs for
PGV, said noise and gas emissions from more than 20
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
fissures and the enormous lava flow that extended tothe ocean, dwarfs any emissions or damage that could
result from an uncontrolled breach of the geothermal
wells on the PGV site.
On May 30th, Ormat Technologies Inc. unveiled that thesubstation of the Puna complex and an adjacent
warehouse that stored a drilling rig were burned by thelava flow. The lava also had covered and blocked themain access road to the power plant. By middle June,PGV remained stuck in a precarious spot between ariver of lava and a line of fissures that have gone quiet.
PGV’s employees could no longer access the site byroad, but most of the plant has been spared destruction.
The PGV was almost completely surrounded by lava.
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has met with
the Hawaiian Electric Companies and Hawaii Energy todevelop a series of rapid response actions to address theloss of renewable generation from the PGV power
plant. It was informed that in the near-term, electricity
formerly provided by PGV will be generated mostly byburning fossil fuels, increasing air pollution and raising
electricity prices for customers.
By early July, as the PGV entered its third month of
shutdown, Ormat affirmed its commitment to reopening the facility and has told the 30 full-timeworkers they will remain on the payroll for at least ayear. But even under thebest of circumstances, thefacility
likelywouldn’t
resume providing power forat least a few years. Lava hascovered three of the wells
andburneda
PGV
substation and an adjacent
warehouse that held a large
drilling rig. At its closest
point, the current flow isroughly 1,000 feet (~300 m)from the remaining plantfacilities but it was largely
confined to a channel
throughtheproperty,
accordingtoMichaelKaleikini.
By early July, the eruption
had extruded more than 250
million of cubic meters oflava, having outpaced the1955 and 1960 eruptions.
https://edition.cnn.com/20
18/05/06/us/hawaiikilaueavolcano/index.html?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email,
www.geothermal-energy.org

27
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/05/09/breakingnews/ige-to-issue-emergency-proclamation-to-securepuna-geothermal-plant/, http://www.hawaiitribuneherald.com/2018/05/11/hawaii-news/one-fearalleviated-another-looms-at-geothermal-plant/,
http://www.kitv.com/story/38190693/19th-fissuresparks-worry-in-regards-to-puna-geothermal-plant,
https://gizmodo.com/creeping-lava-now-threatensmajor-hawaiian-power-plant1826222711?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email,http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/05/23/hawaiinews/geothermal-plant-declared-essentially-safe/,
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/punageothermal-venture-deemed-stable-after-lava-coverstwo-wells/1205182245,
http://investor.ormat.com/file/Index?KeyFile=393711
325, http://www.hawaiitribuneherald.com/2018/06/04/hawaii-news/pgv-stuckbetween-lava-river-fissures/,https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.ht
ml,
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/5
6/ID/21843/PUC-Geothermal-Shutdown-MeansHigher-Rates-Dirtier-Air.aspx,
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/07/08/hawaiinews/geothermal-plant-faces-challenges-amiduncertainty/

Puna Geothermal Venture

Trump Orders Action to Stem Coal, Nuclear Plant
Shutdowns – On early June, President Donald Trumpordered his energy secretary to take immediate action to
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
stem power plant closures, arguing that a decline in coaland nuclear electricity is putting the nation’s security at
risk.
“Impending retirements of fuel-secure power facilities
are leading to a rapid depletion of a critical part of ournation’s energy mix and impacting the resilience of ourpower grid,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders
explained in an emailed statement. Trump has directed
Energy Secretary Rick Perry “to prepare immediate
steps to stop the loss of these resources and looks
forward to his recommendations.”
Trump’s directive comes as administration officials
search for ways to extend the life of money-losing coaland nuclear power plants that face competition fromcheaper natural gas and renewable energy. The plants
are considered “fuel-secure” because they house coaland nuclear material on site and are not dependent on
pipelines that can be disrupted, wind that stops blowing
or a sun that sets.
Administration officials are still weighing the best
approach, Sanders said. The National Security Council
was discussing the Energy Department’s strategy, which
was to use authority granted under a pair of federal laws
to establish a “strategic electric generation reserve” andcompel grid operators to buy electricity from at-risk
plants “to protect national security”.
The draft plan is meant to buy time for a two-year studyof vulnerabilities in the American energy delivery
system, extending to natural gas pipelines as well as
power plants. The agency argues that power plantclosures must be managed for national security reasons,because nuclear and coal-fired facilities can easily berestored after extreme weather events, cyber-attacks andother emergencies.
The move would represent the president’s most direct
effort to bring back coal mining jobs and reward voters
who helped put him into office, ahead of pivotal
midterm elections that could decide whether
Republicans retain control of the House and Senate.
Some 12,000 megawatts of coal-fired power are
expected to retire this year, the National Mining
Association said.
PJM Interconnection said in a statement that the powersystem is more reliable than ever. “There is no need forany such drastic action,” the grid operator said. “Anyfederal intervention in the market to order customers to
buy electricity from specific power plants would bedamaging to the markets and therefore costly to
consumers.”
Mike Jacobs, senior energy analyst at the Union ofConcerned Scientists, said: “This attempt to turn an eraof cheap, abundant electricity into an emergency should
be seen for what it is –a scare tactic, pure and simple…
www.geothermal-energy.org

28
Energy Secretary Perry is being forced to issue anotherunnecessary and unprecedented emergency order tofavor coal and nuclear over more economic electricity
suppliers, including renewables. The Federal Power Act,
which ensures a reliable power supply after sudden
emergencies, is not meant to insulate uneconomic
power plants from market forces. The Energy
Department has primarily used that authority to address
major power outage events and shortages, such as theCalifornia energy crisis in 2000 and the Northeast
blackout in 2003. Abusing this authority to bail out
uneconomic power plants for such an extended time
makes no sense, especially when most regions of thecountry are awash with excess electricity.”
Sources:
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018/06/trump-orders-action-to-stem-coal-nuclear-plantshutdowns,
https://www.energycentral.com/news/white-housewhims-are-not-grounds-emergency-coal-nuke-plantbailouts?utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=DAILY_
NEWS&utm_content=214475&utm_source=2018_06_
05

ASIA/PACIFIC RIM
China: Tibet, Hainan, Green
Action Plan
Joint Venture for Exploration in Tibet - On early
April, Chen Hua, Chairman of the Board of China
Nuclear Power Company, CNNC (Tibet) Industrial
Development Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with
CNNC KunHua Energy Development Co., Ltd. on thedevelopment and operation of the clean energy projects
in Tibet. This is a successful integration of CNNC’s
resources in geothermal development, laying a solid
foundation for CNNC Group’s expansion of Tibetan
geothermal industry projects.
According to the agreement, the Tibetan company wascommissioned by CNNC KunHua to carry out thedevelopment of geothermal and other clean energy
projects in Tibet. The Tibetan company will use its
geographical advantages, actively coordinate the relevant
local government departments responsible for the daily
procedures required for the operation, project
development and construction. CNNC KunHua Energy
will be able to act as the geothermal specialized
investment platforms to accelerate investment in
geothermal projects in Tibet.
Source: https://nbn.media/cnnc-geothermal-projectsin-tibet/
Deep Geothermal Well Drilled in Hainan - A pilot
well to explore possibilities for develop a Hot Dry RockJuly-September 2018

IGA News No. 112(HDR) project, was drilled to a true depth (TD) of 4387
meters in middle March, 2018. The well reached atemperature of 185°C and was drilled by LandOcean
Hainan Company, a subsidiary of LandOcean Energy
Service Co., Ltd., in Hainan Province, a south-eastern
province of China.
It is the first time for China to conduct such exploration
campaign, and it is the first HDR well in Hainan
Province representing a milestone in the country’s
endeavor to develop this type of geothermal projects
through the EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems)
technology.

29
fairly high up to 73%, which is 5.3 times of solar powerand 3.5 times of wind energy.
To accomplish the drilling of this deep well, a series oftechnical difficulties have been overcome. A candidate
area was finally decided in Qiong Bei Area, whichcontains little granite and no volcanic activity. Research
has also been done to locate the best place for drillingthe well, including geophysical and geological surveys,
and drilling/logging/mud-logging data of adjacent wells.
LandOcean spent near half year taking comprehensive
consideration of site accessibility, operational safety,
environmental protection and minimum impact to local
residents.
The well was drilled in just 66 days.
Source:http://www.ldocean.com.cn/En/NewsInfo566.aspx
Sinopec Green Action Plan - On early April 2018
Sinopec launched its Green Action Plan, aiming tobecome a clean, efficient and low-carbon enterprise by
2023. According to the Plan, by 2023, Sinopec will see
the share of its clean energy output exceed 50 percent of
its total, with an annual natural gas production capacityof 40 billion cubic meters. Among its plans, Sinopec will
boost its geothermal heating capacity to 120-150 million
square meters by 2023, providing geothermal heating toabout 2.1 million urban residents.
Source:http://www.sinopecgroup.com/group/en/Sinopecnew
s/20180411/news_20180411_536665179295.shtml

Indonesia: Geothermal
Capacity, Sarulla, Risk
Mitigation, New Tariffs

Drilling rig in the Hainan Province (Photo takenfrom the source).
EGS is a type of geothermal power that utilizes the hightemperatures of rocks found a few kilometers below
ground. This is done by pumping high pressure water
down a borehole into the heat zone. The water travels
through fractures in the rock, capturing the heat of therock until it is forced out of a second borehole as very
hot water, which is converted into electricity using eithera steam turbine or a binary power plant system. All of
the water, now cooled off, is injected back into theground to heat up again. The utilization efficiency iswww.geothermal-energy.org

Second Largest Geothermal Capacity Worldwide By the end of the first quarter of 2018, the installedcapacity of geothermal power plants reached 1924.5
MW in Indonesia, which put the country in second
place in the world after the United States in utilizing
geothermal power, shifting second position previously
occupied by the Philippines. This was stated by Rida
Mulyana, Director General of Renewable Energy andEnergy Conservation (EBTKE) in a press conference
hold on April 27 in Jakarta.
The Indonesia’s geothermal reserves are estimated to be
17,506 MW, and then the current installed capacity isbarely 11% of that potential. This represents a great
opportunity for investors to develop geothermal as wellas meet national energy needs. The goal for the end of
this year is to reach 2058.5 MW.
“We are proud of this achievement that exceeds the1870 of the Philippines’ installed capacity, which means
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

30

that we have become the world’s number two
geothermal producer,” said Director Mulyana.

as such maximizing resource exploitation for maximum
power output.

Rida said the additional installed capacity comes fromthe operation of the power plants of Larah Karaha Unit
1 (30 MW) and Sarulla Unit 3 (110 MW). For thesecond semester the following plants are planned tostart operations: Sorik Marapi Modullar Unit 1 (20 MW)
in August 2018, Sorik Marapi Marapi Modullar Unit 2(30 MW) in December 2018, Lumut Balai Unit 1 (55MW) in December 2018, and Sokoria
Unit 1 (25 MW) in December 2018.

SIL, the first unit of the power plant, commenced
commercial operation in March 2017 and NIL 1, thesecond unit, commenced commercial operation in
October 2017. Both units are performing well. NIL 2,
the third unit, commenced commercial operation on
May 4, 2018, reaching full completion under the Energy
Sales Contract on schedule.

After shifting the Philippines position as
the second largest geothermal power
producer in the world, the Government
projects Indonesia to become theworld’s largest geothermal power
producer by 2023, beating the U.S. withgeothermal power capacity of 3729.5
MW.
To simplify the utilization of geothermalenergy, the government continues tofacilitate investments through the fiscal
and non-fiscal incentives. In addition,
the government has also issued special
regulation on geothermal, namely Law
no. 21 of 2014 on Geothermal,
Government Regulation no. 7 of 2017
on Geothermal for Indirect Use andother technical regulations. The two first regulations
changed the old barrier that geothermal development
can’t be done in conservation forest areas, because it is
no longer categorized as a mining business.
Source: https://www.esdm.go.id/id/mediacenter/arsip-berita/kini-indonesia-menjadi-produsenlistrik-panas-bumi-terbesar-kedua-dunia
Third Unit of Sarulla Inaugurated on May 4 th Ormat Technologies Inc. announced that NIL 2, thethird unit of the Sarulla geothermal power plant, hascommenced commercial operation on May 4th, 2018,bringing the project to its full capacity of 330 MW.
Located in North Sumatra, Indonesia, the 330 MW
Sarulla power plant is one of the world’s largest
geothermal power plants and it includes three units ofapproximately 110 MW each, utilizing both steam andbrine extracted from the geothermal field to increase thepower plant’s efficiency.
In addition to being one of the sponsors, Ormat also
provided the initial conceptual design of the
Geothermal Combined Cycle Unit (GCCU) power plantand supplied its Ormat Energy Converter (OEC). The
OECs are producing over 40% of the total power byutilizing low pressure steam and the separated brine, andwww.geothermal-energy.org

Aerial view of SIL (Photo by Ormat).
The Sarulla 330 MW power plant is a US$ 1.7 billion
project that sells its power to the state-owned
Indonesian Power Company PT Perusahaan Listrik
Negara (PLN) under a 30 year Energy Sales Contract.
The Sarulla power plant is operated by Sarulla
Operations Ltd. (SOL), an operation company
established by a consortium consisting of Medco Energi
Internasional Tbk, Inpex Corporation, Itochu
Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc., and an
Ormat subsidiary that holds a 12.75% equity interest.
Source:http://investor.ormat.com/file/Index?KeyFile=393388
064
World Bank Supports Credit Facility for
Geothermal Energy - The World Bank Group isdeveloping an innovative credit facility to manage risks
inherent to developing geothermal energy in Indonesia.
The Geothermal Resource Risk Mitigation (GREM)
project in this country is an example of the catalytic
effect of the Maximizing Finance for Development(MFD) approach. Successfully developing a geothermalsite requires deep pockets and a large appetite for risk –barriers that have often been too high for developers.
The initial exploration and drilling phases of developing
geothermal sites are particularly costly and risky.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Resource exploration of a potential site in Indonesia cancost from US$30 to 50 million, with no way to recoup
losses if the resource proves insufficient. Later stages
are less risky but even costlier –up to US$400 million todevelop a 100-megawatt site.
The World Bank is helping the Indonesian government
establish an innovative credit facility to unlock
investment in geothermal energy. Designed to bridgefinancing gaps and mitigate risks, the facility will channel
US$650 million of finance into exploration. This
includes US$150 million from the government, US$175
million in concessional climate finance, and US$325
million in loans from IBRD (International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development)
Key features of GREM include:• Partial funding through concessional finance for the
initial high-risk phases, with a mix of public money andclimate finance structured to ensure that developers
have a stake in the outcome.
• If insufficient steam resources are found, up to 50
percent of the loan will be forgiven, considerably
reducing the risk for developers.
• Financial packages specially tailored to public sector
developers, private sector developers, and public-private
partnerships.
Alongside the World Bank, IFC (International
Financing Corporation, which is also a member of theWorld Bank Group) has been advising on theimplications of various facility structures based on theneeds of the private sector. IFC is now developing afinancing instrument to dovetail upstream investments
under the World Bank-supported facility, which willkick in once private investors pass through the high-risk
exploratory phases.
The facility is projected to leverage up to US$4 billion in
private sector funding to develop a gigawatt (GW) of
capacity through 20 new geothermal located throughout
the archipelago –enough to power about a million
Indonesian homes. Beyond expanding access, this will
help Indonesia reach its NDC under the Paris
Agreement with 23 percent renewable energy by 2025
and a 29 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2030.
Source:http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/partners/brief/indonesia-tapping-geothermal-for-greener-growth
New Tariff Regime for Renewable Energies - The
Indonesian government has introduced a new tariff
regime for renewable energies. The new regime gives
the Indonesian state power company, PT Perusahaan
Listrik Negara (PLN), greater control over tariffs in the
sector through business-to-business negotiations andbenchmarking against the applicable Electricity
www.geothermal-energy.org

31
Generation Basic Cost
Pembangkitan or BPP).

(BiayaPokok

Penyediaan

Director Generalof Renewable
Energy andEnergyConservation,
Rida Mulyana,
during a press
conference lastApril. Photo takenfrom :
https://www.esd
m.go.id/id/mediacenter/arsipberita/kiniindonesiamenjadiprodusen-listrikpanas-bumiterbesar-keduadunia
The new tariff regime (MEMR Reg. 50/2017) waselaborated by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources
regarding Utilization of Renewable Energy for Power
Supply, came into force on August 8, 2017. It provides a
new mechanism to determine the tariff for electricity
generated by renewable energy power plants andpurchased by PLN from Independent Power Producers(IPP). The tariff is now determined by benchmarking
against the applicable BPP in the area where the poweris generated or through negotiations between PLN and
the IPP.
BPP reflects the cost of PLN in generating power andin procuring electricity supply from third-party suppliers
such as IPP, but does not include the cost oftransmitting the electricity. BPP is stipulated annually by
the MEMR, based on a recommendation from PLN,
and includes both national and local BPP, withreference to BPP for the previous calendar year.
For hydro, waste and geothermal sources, the tariff
calculation under MEMR Reg. 50/2017 is as follows: If
the local BPP is greater than the national BPP from theprevious year, the maximum benchmark tariff is the
local BPP. If the local BPP is equal to or less than thenational BPP from the previous year, the tariff shall bebased on a mutual agreement between the IPP and
PLN. MEMR Reg. 50/2017 requires that the price ofelectricity from renewable energies as stipulated above
be approved by the MEMR.
The exceptions for geothermal energy are entities thathave been awarded a geothermal working area but have
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
not signed a PPA; any state-owned company that has
been mandated with geothermal concession; and any
holder of a geothermal concession that has signed any
steam sale contract (perjanjian jual beli uap) and/or PPA
which has been verified or is in the process of being
verified by the Indonesian Financial and Development
Supervisory Board (BPKP).

32

Korea: EGS and Quakes

online by The Climate Examiner on May 18, 2018 in thewebsite referred in the source. It is an interview with Ernest
Majer, who is introduced in the first paragraphs altogether withthe background (see also IGA News 110, pp. 19-20). Even
though his answers can’t be conclusive, Majer pointed out moreelements that have widen the perspective.
A pair of papers appeared in the prestigious U.S.
academic journal Science in the Spring of 2018,concluded that in 2017 a pilot power plant in South
Korea that employed enhanced geothermal systems(EGS) triggered the most damaging earthquake since
the country started monitoring seismic events in 1905.
The finding prompted discussions within the clean
energy community about the potential impact on thedevelopment of this renewable resource.
Ernest Majer, one of North America’s foremost experts
in the subject of seismicity and geothermal systems,
spoke to The Climate Examiner about EGS, how it differsfrom conventional geothermal, what challenges thesector faces, and his views on the events in South
Korea.
Majer began his career in the 1970s exploring seismic
activity at California’s Geysers geothermal field, acomplex of 22 geothermal plants and the largest single
geothermal power producer in the world. He has
worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryon the issue for over 40 years.
Here is what he has to tell to answer the direct question,
What do you think happened in South Korea?
“There is certainly very compelling evidence in the two
papers suggesting the injections induced the earthquake,but there are also a few arguments against theconclusion that the sole cause of the events was theinjections.
The first is that the magnitude 5.4 and 4.7 earthquakes,
both on Nov. 15, 2017, came two months after the
injections had stopped. There was also anotherearthquake of 4.7 magnitude at the EGS site fivemonths after the injections had stopped on Feb. 10,
2018. This is normally a very low seismicity area of
Korea. But there was also 4.9, 5.4, 4.6 and 3.5
magnitude earthquakes from Sept. 12-21, 2016, 30
kilometers to the southwest along the same fault zone
(and 11 months before the hydraulic stimulation in
August 2017, followed by flow-back of 100% of theinjected water - Note of the IGA News editor). The last big
seismic events in the region were in 1903, and sincethen until now, there has been nothing. So is theseismicity due to the larger parts of the fault being
naturally reactivated? Was the EGS plant just really
unlucky? Was it more of a ‘triggered’ event –meaning
partially natural, partially human-caused-- versus
induced only by injection?

Following are some excerpts from the text ‘Quakes, fracking
and geothermal: opportunities and challenges’ published

If these injections alone did indeed lead to theunexpectedly large earthquakes, then we need to

Source:https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a15bd
966-4144-477a-954a-a12d58ff3b6aJapan: ElectraTherm
Commissions Heat-to-Power
Generator at MicroGeothermal Site
ElectraTherm ofReno, Nevada, USA,has commissioned aPower+Generator®
at a geothermal site in
the northern part ofJapan. The
geothermal heat
forms an onsen
where the local
community has
enjoyed bathing at
this natural resource
for centuries. The
Power+installation
offers anotherresource to thecommunity. The
installation also
reduces the cost of cooling the onsen water that isotherwise too hot for bathing. This marks the second
Power+Generator in Japan utilizing geothermal heat togenerate fuel-free, emission-free electricity.
ElectraTherm utilizes the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)
and proprietary technologies to generate up to 65 kWeof electricity at the site. The Power+Generator captures
low temperature heat ranging from 77°C to 116°C andflow rates up to 45.4 m3/hour. The geothermal
resource captures hot waterto drive the ORC cycle andturning ElectraTherm’s twin screw power block, driving
an electric generator to make clean electricity.
Source: https://electratherm.com/electrathermcommissions-heat-to-power-generator-at-microgeothermal-site-in-japan/

www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
determine why they did. This would prompt suchquestions as: How much of the fault do you need toaffect before it goes off, the majority of the fault or justa pinprick? What are the critical data needed to have a
successful EGS project?

33
service of the geothermal power plants in Leyte thatwere affected by the July 2017 earthquake and otherproject initiatives aimed at increasing the reliability,
efficiency and throughput of EDC’s existing geothermal
facilities as well as reducing outages and health, safety &environment (HSE) risks.
The IFC loan to EDC has been announced since
January 2018, but was signed in Manila on late April.
Richard Tantoco, EDC President and Chief Operating
Officer, said, “With this most recent financing on theback of previous financings in 2011, 2008, and even an
IPO-enabling IFC investment in 2006, EDC & IFC
continue to strengthen our partnership. We share a jointcommitment to provide sustainable energy sources for
the Philippines and to mitigate carbon emissions.”
EDC Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,
Nestor Vasay, stated that “Securing this financing with
IFC further confirms that EDC continues to adhere to
the high standards of multi-lateral funding organizationsin the aspects of financial discipline, good corporate
governance, environmental and social stewardship,safety and security, and fair labor practices.”

The epicenter of the Pohang Earthquake (red) alongwith the aftershocks (yellow) (Provided by Korea
Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources).
In both EGS and hydro-fracturing, we are still asking:What is this induced seismicity telling us? Is this really
where the fluid is going? Is this where the stresses aregoing? How far out do the stresses go? How far awayfrom a fault can you be before you really make it go off?
So the two papers have prompted a lot of discussion
already within the energy community and elsewhere
because this doesn’t just impact geothermal energy. If it
is the case that our understanding of natural seismicity islacking, then this could impact the oil and gas industry,carbon sequestration, and other activities beyond clean
energy.
Source:http://theclimateexaminer.ca/2018/05/16/quakesfracking-geothermal-opportunities-challenges/

Philippines: US$ 90 Million
IFC loan to EDC
Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and theInternational Finance Corporation (IFC), a member ofthe World Bank Group, signed a 15-year financing
agreement for US$ 90 million. The proceeds of the loan
will fund a portion of the 2018 capital requirements andother general corporate purposes of EDC’s existing
geothermal operations. These capital expenditures
include the balance of work related to the return of
www.geothermal-energy.org

EDC is an integrated geothermal steam and electric
power producer in the Philippines and a global
geothermal energy industry leader. It is the Philippines’
largest vertically-integrated geothermal developer. As of
December 31, 2017, EDC and its subsidiaries owns andoperates a diversified portfolio of renewable energy
projects in the Philippines with a total installed capacityof 1,472 MW, including geothermal, hydro, wind andsolar projects. As a leader in the geothermal industry,
EDC aims to promote and improve the utilization ofindigenous geothermal technology, which is still themost superior renewable energy technology today
offering base load operations, low greenhouse gas
emissions, and low land and water utilization. EDC’s
power generation in 2016 represents approximately 9%of the country’s total power generation capacity.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/ifc-extends90-million-loan-to-energy-development-corp-in-thephilippines/

Taiwan: MOU to Develop
Geothermal Project in Yilan
CountyState-run utility Taiwan Power Co and oil refiner CPC
Corp Taiwan signed a memorandum of understandingin late March 2018 to invest in two geothermal power
plants in Yilan County, the Ministry of Economic
Affairs (MOEA) said.
Under the cooperation plan, CPC would drill one or
two wells near the Renze’s hot spring to conduct tests,
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
and if these are successful, the state-run refiner would
hand over the project to Taipower, which would betasked with generating geothermal power.
Geothermal potential in Yilan seems to be huge, given
the large number of hot springs in the county. CPC said
it selected Renze for the tests after geological evaluation
because it has greater geothermal potential than otherareas in Taiwan. Moreover, the plots of land on the site
in Renze belong to the Forestry Bureau, making theprocess less costly and time-consuming than if thecompany were to lease land from private owners.
CPC has ample experience drilling geothermal wells, andin 1981 helped set up a geothermal power plant in the
county’s Cingshuei area, which was shut down in 1993
as its generators became less efficient.
Taipower is interested in developing geothermal energy
and is simultaneously engaged in a geothermal
development project on Green Island this year.
The state-run utility has carried out well tests and is on
track to build a small geothermal power station capableof generating 200kW of electricity on the island by next
year. It was unveiled that Taipower plans to build alarger geothermal power plant there capable ofgenerating 40 megawatts by 2020.
The Bureau of Energy has said that the government’s
target is to install 200 megawatts of geothermal
generation capacity by 2025, as part of the Democratic
Progressive Party administration’s pledge to establish a“nuclear-free homeland” by that year.
If tests are positive in the Renze hot springs, Taipowerplans to construct a 2MW geothermal power plant thatwill have the capacity to supply electricity to about 3,000
households for a year after it becomes operational in

CPC Chairman Tai Chien (left) and Taipower Chairman
Yang Wei-fuu during the signature ceremony (Phototaken from the source).
www.geothermal-energy.org

34
2022.
According to Taipower, the Renze plant will be built at
cost of approximately NT$600 million (US$20.57
million), and a second geothermal plant will be set up
later in Tuchang. When both plants are completed, they
will have a total capacity of 8 megawatts, Taipower said.
In recent years, the development of renewable energy
has been accelerating, and geothermal power generation
technology capabilities have also been improving, said
Taipower Chairman Yang Wei-fuu, adding that Taiwan
has good potential in that field.
Sources:
http://taipeitimes.com/news/biz/archives/2018/03/1
2/2003689101,
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201803280025.aspx

EUROPE
EGEC’s 20th Anniversary
Declaration & New President
For the energy transition to be successful, we need
integration and a coherent mix in all energy sectors
which cannot be accomplished without the versatile
contribution of geothermal energy, the European
Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) stated in a
declaration released on June 8th, celebrating its 20 years
anniversary.
Ahead of the meeting where the European Energy
Ministers will meet to decide on the level of ambition
for Europe’s 2030 renewable energy target, EGEC
highlights the contribution of geothermal to the decarbonization of the European economy and its evenbigger untapped potential. The presentation of thedeclaration was accompanied by a tasting of ‘geothermal
food and drinks’ –cheese, tomatoes, wine, beers, andother delicacies, all produced with the contribution ofgeothermal energy– that showcased how geothermal ismore than just energy. It also means food, tourism, jobs,
and development for local communities.
The EGEC declaration looks at the current challengesof the energy transition and at the necessity to meet ourenergy needs with optima scenario in terms of bothcosts and affordability, for customers and citizens. A
single technology, a single renewable energy can nevermeet this demand alone. However, when combined
renewable energy sources can meet our future energy
needs. This is where the role of geothermal comes intoplay. As a truly local source of energy, which can
produce power and heat for cities, industries, and ruralcommunities, geothermal fosters local economic
development through many indirect positive effects,
such as jobs creation and air quality.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112“Europe has been a global leader in the geothermal
sector for decades,” said Marco Baresi, Institutional
Affairs and Marketing Director at Turboden Spa and
EGEC Board Member, introducing the event. “Whenwe look at the future energy targets for Europe andthose laid out in the Paris agreement, we see that many
challenges still lie ahead. Both EGEC and the European
geothermal industry are committed to maintaining thisleadership, delivering affordable energy and constantinnovation.”On the milestone of 20 years of the association,
Burkhard Sanner, founding member and former
President of EGEC, said: “I had the pleasure to chair
the founding session of EGEC, with 21 representatives
from all over Europe, from Iceland, to the Azores, toTurkey. When we released the Ferrara Declaration,
someone said that the numbers and the ambition for2020 were impossible to reach. But now we are close,
and we must be proud of our achievements.”
In other news, on July 9th EGEC
unveiled it has appointed Miklos
A. Antics as new President. The
appointment comes after the
tragic loss of EGEC president
Ruggero Bertani last June 21 (seeobituary in pages 12-15). The
board meeting
unanimously
approved the nomination of
Miklos Antics, Managing Directorofthecompany
GPC
Instrumentation Process (GPC
IP), who has been member of the
EGEC board since 2004 andserved as EGEC vice-president
since 2013.
Commenting on the appointment,
the new president said: “I’mlooking forward to serving as
President, as well as continuing
the valuable work, by building on
the achievements inherited frommy predecessors, in fostering
geothermal development and highlighting the importantrole of geothermal in the energy transition”.
Sources: https://www.egec.org/geothermal-energysociety-industry-economy/,
https://www.egec.org/new-egec-president/

EGEC’s 2017 Geothermal
Market Report
The European Geothermal Energy Council, haspublished the seventh edition of its annual study
evaluating the development of the geothermal sector in
Europe. The EGEC Geothermal Market Reportwww.geothermal-energy.org

35
confirms the trend towards the steady growth observedin recent years, but also notes the need for greater
recognition in order to enable the full deployment ofgeothermal energy in Europe.
Installed geothermal electricity capacity in Europe
amounts to 2.8 GWe, producing over 15 TWh per year.
In Europe there are 117 plants, 16 of which wereinaugurated in 2017. The new additions are quite
significant, with 330 MWe of new geothermal electricity
capacity coming online, mainly in Turkey.
The use of geothermal for heating is also increasing,supported by the construction of new district heating
networks and the retrofitting of old ones, thanks to local
and national planning identifying geothermal heat as a
cost-efficient solution to meet heating needs. In 2017,
nine new plants were inaugurated, adding over 75
MWth across France, the Netherlands and Italy. The
number of new plants coming online each year is on an
upward trend, with an averageannual growth rate of 10% in recent
years.
Looking at individual geothermal
heating systems, the shallow
geothermal market remains thelargest segment of the sector interms of number of installations,installed capacity and energy
produced. Individual geothermal
heating systems, or geothermal heatpumps, represent over 20 GWth ofheating capacity in Europe, withnearly 2 million installed units.
Since its first edition in December
2011, the EGEC Geothermal
Market Report has come to be seenas the authoritative overview of theentire geothermal sector in Europe.
The report includes details of all
major projects in operation, underdevelopment,
and
under
investigation, as well as an analysis
of market development, the regulatory and public policy
environment, financial tools and incentives, the market
forecast, and key players. Every edition also offers an indepth review of different geothermal technologies. The
focus of this year’s edition is exploration equipment.
Source: https://www.egec.org/wpcontent/uploads/media_publication/MR17_KF_final_web.pdf

France: Eurometropol &Grigny-Viry Projects,
Discussion on the PPE
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IGA News No. 112
Successful Development of the Eurometropol CHP
Project - The French geothermal developer Fonrocheannounced in early May the test results of its first welldrilled in the Eurometropol city of Strasbourg, which
produced over 80 liters of thermal water per second at atemperature over 200 degrees Celsius. Later on,
Fonroche informed it will drill the second well to have ageothermal doublet.
In Strasbourg’s district of Reichstett, the location of aformer refinery, Fonroche has drilled for geothermalenergy since June 2017. The Managing Director JeanPhilippe Soulé, explained “We have found water with atemperature above 200 degrees Celsius, which is thehottest hole in Europe, apart from the volcanic zone in
Tuscany. This is an extraordinary result in the European
context. In terms of fill, it is more than 300 cubic meters
per hour, which can supply 26,000 residents with heat
and about 9000 with electricity.”
At 4600 meters, the well drilled is the deepest in France.
During drilling, maximum safety was ensured to avoid
accidents. Among other things, 500 houses in Reichstettwere included in advance. Georges Schuler, the mayorof Reichstett, also emphasizes: “If we really want toevolve towards a less polluted planet, we should also
engage with the use of geothermal energy, which must
be embedded in a secure legal framework.”
Based on these excellent results, the manufacturer
invested EUR 15 million (US$ 17.6m) in a ‘zero noise
hydraulic’ drilling rig of German TBM Herrenknecht, todrill the second well starting in early June.
A total of EUR 80 million (US$94 million) is invested
by Fonroche in this transaction: EUR 10 million for
exploration, EUR 30 million for the drilling of two wells
and EUR 40 million for the construction of a CHP(Combined Heat and Power) plant, with 8 MWe of
power capacity and 40 MWth of thermal capacity. The
company expects to finish the plant and the connection
to the electricity grid by end of 2019.
The energy will fuel the future neighboring Rhine
EcoParc and the companies that will settle there in the
coming months. The Strasbourg Eurometropolis has
also called for the creation of agricultural greenhouses
on one hectare, in partnership with interested farmers.
Sources: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/geothermalproject-in-strasbourg-france-drills-hottest-well-incentral-europe/,
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/fonroche-to-proceedwith-second-well-on-geothermal-site-near-strasbourg/
Inauguration of a New Geothermal District
Heating System - Inaugurated in early June, the newheating network Grigny and Viry Chatillon alreadyproduces 124 GWh heat per year, the equivalent ofheating for 12,000 homes. Hot water is drawn from thewww.geothermal-energy.org

36
basement of the two towns at a depth of 1,800 meters.
At this level, its temperature reaches 71°C.
The new geothermal plant was planned and built tofight against ‘fuel poverty’ of sensitive neighborhoods.
Les Sablons, Tuileries, Grande-Borne, Plateau ViryChâtillon: all these so-called ‘sensitive’ neighborhoods,
mainly made up of collective habitats, are now
exclusively heated and supplied with hot water by theinter-municipal geothermal network. In all, 10,000
dwellings, but also schools, gymnasiums, colleges of thetwo cities, are connected.

Geothermal heating plant of Sipperec in Rosnysous-Bois, France (source: SIPPEREC)
The pumping operations are outsourced to specializedcompanies. After transit through the heating network,
the water is reinjected into the aquifer. It warms up
again slowly in contact with the rock. Thus, in principle,
the underground water reservoir never dries up.
This is the fourth geothermal heating network set up by
the intercommunal syndicate in the greater Paris region
for energy and communication networks (Sipperec).
Sipperec owns 51% of the renewable energy company,
Seer, which manages the project; the city of Grigny 34%
and Viry 15%. “This project is entirely carried by the
public, the development was long and complex, we had
moments of concern, but today, everything is perfectly
successful,” says Therese Leroux, president of the Seer,and mayor of Villiers-sur-Orge.
The goal of the operation is environmental and social.
Geothermal heating must be much cheaper than gas orelectricity. According to Sipperec, the new heat network
would save EUR 800,000 (US$ 940,000) per year inheating costs and hot water on the cities. “Theinhabitants of this district have abnormally high heating
costs that can reach up to 60% of the expenses,” says
Laurent Georges, general manager of Sipperec.
Another advantage is the stability of costs. According
Georges, the price of geothermal heating should notincrease, unlike gas. That is because most of the costs
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
come from depreciation and maintenance expenses andnot from the fluctuation of energy prices.
It took an investment of around EUR 29.1 million(US$34.2 million) to build the Grigny-Viry geothermal
network. The State, through the Local Investment
Support Fund, granted aid worth EUR 2.6 million, while
the region and Ademe paid EUR 8.9 million.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/more-than10000-homes-heated-by-geothermal-energy-in-grignyand-viry-chatillon-france/
Discussion on the PPE - On Thursday 24th May,ENGIE Réseaux and the French Association for
Renewables (SER: Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables), in
cooperation with EGEC (European Geothermal Energy
Council) and the city of Villepinte, gathered to discuss
the French objectives for geothermal energy in theframework of the Multiannual Program on Geothermal
Energy (PPE: Programmation pluriannuelle de l’énergie
géothermie). The event took place in the framework of the
public debate on the PPE, which was open on March
19th, and at the district heating plant of Villepinte,
operated by ENGIE Réseaux and supplied for 64% bygeothermal energy.
ENGIE Réseaux and SER chose to highlight thecontribution of the third renewable energy source inFrance in terms of energy consumption, geothermal,
ahead of the open days to visit renewable installations incities during 25-26 May 2018. The discussion also aimed
to present the position of France in the geothermalmarket development, and its leadership in a number oftechnologies.
The French energy law PPE, adopted in 2016, will berevised at the end of 2018, together with an update of
the national low carbon strategy. French stakeholders in37
the renewable sector launched an initiative to promote
the different renewable technologies, including the site
visits and presentations open to the public on 25-26
May 2018, when renewable energy sources were
presented by showing their technologies, jobs profile,
operational onsite management, and questions fromcitizens were answered explaining the role and theadvantages of renewable energy sources.
A press conference was organized on 24th May by
ENGIE Réseaux and SER, in combination with a site
visit to the geothermal district heating plant inVillepinte, which is one the ten geothermal systems
operated by ENGIE Réseaux. The Mayor of Villepinte
and representatives from ENGIE Réseaux, SER and the
EGEC were on the agenda to present the geothermal
potential in France and in Europe and future objectives.
France started an energy transition aiming,
progressively, to reduce energy consumption anddiversify the energy mix to produce electricity, heating
and cooling, and fuels for transport from renewableenergy. Geothermal is already a key sector in thedevelopment of renewable energy in France to reach the
mid-term and long-term objectives fixed by the Frenchlaw on energy transition Law on Energetic Transition
for Green Development (LTECV: Loi de Transition
Energétique pour la Croissance Verte).
Those goals include reduce greenhouse emissions by
40% between 1990 and 2030 and divide by four GHG
emissions between 1990 and 2050; reduce final energy
consumption by 50% in 2050, in comparison with thereference 2012 targeting an intermediate objective of
20% by 2030; decrease primary energy consumption
from fossil fuels by 30% in 2030 from the reference
2012; increase the share of renewable energy to 23% of
the gross final energy consumption in 2020 and to 32%
in 2030.

Site visit at the geothermal district heating system in Villepinte, France (Photoby EGEC, taken from the source).
www.geothermal-energy.org

Thanks to its great experiencein the Paris basin, France isleading the geothermal district
heating market in Europe.
More than 70 geothermal plants
provide space heating inFrance. The majority of these
installations have been installedin the 80s, and today they
supply heating to around
300,000 Equivalent Dwelling
Unit (EDU). In the Paris area,
geothermal supplies heat tomore than 187,000 EDU,
which corresponds to morethan 240,000 tons of CO2
avoided annually. In 2015, theFrench geothermal market
represented €388 million, in
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
comparison with €282 million in 2013 (+38 %).
Source: https://www.egec.org/france-european-leadergeothermal-energy/

Germany: Public Tender for
CHP Projects, Thalkirchen
Project
First Public Tender for CHP Projects - Germany
announced in early April the start of its first innovative
combined heat and power (CHP) tender in which
projects have to use heat sources such as solar thermal,
geothermal energy or heat pumps.
The tender will award contracts to 25 MW of projects,
which will include a cogeneration plant, an innovative
renewable heat source and a power generator. The
deadline for offers is June 1 and the bid cap has been set
at EUR 0.12 (US$ 0.15) per kWh, according to theGermany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagetur).
The innovative CHP tenders in Germany are to help
determine the role of CHP plants in decarbonizing
power and heat supply, the agency said.
In parallel with this tender, the Bundesnetzagetur will
also hold Germany’s second normal CHP auction. The
quota there is a bit over 93 MW and the maximum
bidding price is lower, at EUR 0.07/kWh. The deadline
for bids is the same.
Source: https://renewablesnow.com/news/germanystarts-25-mw-tender-for-chp-with-renewable-heatsource-608438/
Started 50 MWth Geothermal Heating Project in
the Middle of Munich - Construction has started on
the Thalkirchen geothermal heating project in the city of
Munich in Bavaria/Germany. With a planned 50 MW ofthermal capacity, the plant will be the largest geothermal
heating plant in Germany, since it is planned to supply
geothermal heating to up to 80,000 residents of Munich.
Six wells will be drilled for the plant, a in a star shapefrom a drilling pad to depths of 2800 to 3100 meters.
After 900 meters, they are to be drilled horizontally. The
aim is for the production and injection wells in the deep
aquifer to be more than 1200 meters apart. This distanceprevents the hydraulic short circuit from occurring,
meaning that the cooled water returned to the subsoil isonce again lifted above the production well.
The special feature of the facility on Schäftlarnstrasse isthat Stadtwerke München (SWM), the local utility anddeveloper, is drilling for the first time in the middle ofMunich. Helge-Uve Braun, from SWM, explains:“That’s why we have developed a special noise
prevention concept here. The impact on theenvironment should be reduced to a minimum. Amongwww.geothermal-energy.org

38
other things, the concept includes ongoingmeasurements in order to be able to locate and control
noise sources immediately, noise barriers, a particularly
quiet drilling rig and adapted construction site logistics.
Thus, the noisy delivery and unloading almost
exclusively during the day.”Josef Daldrup, CEO of Daldrup & Söhne AG, said:“This project is currently one of Europe’s largest
geothermal projects for heat production. The six wells
will be drilled by experienced drilling crews using one of
our emission-optimized deep drilling rigs and a noise
reduction concept adapted to local conditions. The
geothermal wells for SWM, in particular due to their sizein the inner-city area, have lighthouse character for theuse of geothermal energy as a renewable energy sourcein Germany and Europe. ”

Helge-Uve
Braun, from
SWM, undJosef
Daldrup,from
Daldrup &Söhne AG,with one of
the largest
diameterdrill bits to
be used.
Source:SWM.
The drilling work should be completed by the end of
2019. Then the plant will be built, and after that longterm pumping experiments and the fine adjustment of
the system will be carried out. By 2020, it will finally go
online.
SWM is one of the pioneers of deep geothermal energy.
In Riem, they have been using this process to supply
heat to the trade fair city and trade fair since 2004. Theirgeothermal co-generation plant (electricity and heat) in
Sauerlach went into operation in 2013, and thegeothermal heating plant in Freiham in 2016. In thesame year, SWM acquired two more geothermal power
plants in Dürnhaar and in Kirchstockach. Helge-Uve
Braun stated that SWM is “developing renewableenergies holistically –in the electricity as well as theheating sector. And in the heat area, the most energy isconsumed. Our goal is to make Munich Germany’s first
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

39

major city by 2040, in which district heating is generated
100 percent from renewable energy sources. The
essential contribution will be provided by geothermalenergy.”Right from the beginning, relations with stakeholders
were prioritized and a focus was set on environmental
issues. The planning of projects aimed at minimizing
environmental impact as much as possible.

Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/work-hasstarted-on-50-mw-geothermal-heating-project-inmunich-germany/

A re-naturalization project was initiated in parallel withthe preparatory work and aimed at restoring land that
ended up under construction. This task is now at the
final stage.

Iceland: Theistareykir, UNUGTP Session, Investment in
Geothermal Direct Uses
Second 45 MW Unit of Theistareykir Started
Operation - The second unit of the Theistareykir
geothermal power plant in Iceland started operation bymiddle April. This is the 17th power plant of national
power company Landsvirkjun and the first geothermal
plant built by Landsvirkjun from scratch. The plant has
now reached 90 MW power generation capacity withtwo 45 MW Fuji Electric turbines.
The first unit of Theistareykir was launched in
November 2017 (see IGA News 110, pp. 24-25). The
second unit arrived at the plant in April 2017 andinstallation was completed in January 2018. Since midFebruary, Unit 2 has been in testing operation until allits functionality has been verified and Landsvirkjun
having officially taken over its operation.
Initiatives for the utilization of the natural resources in
Theistareykir came from local people, but local
authorities and residents established company
Theistareykir ehf in 1999. Landsvirkjun first came to theproject in 2005, but since 2011, it has begun its
preparation and implementation.
Studies in the geothermal area in Theistareykir stretch
for decades back in time. Environmental impact
assessment was based on the development of up to 200
MW of power plants in the area, but the current project
has been the construction of 90 MW power plants in
two phases.

View of the first unit during its construction in 2016.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Special attention has been paid to interaction withstakeholders in the area, as farmers have used
Theistareykir as a pastoral landmark for decades, which
the project did not impact. It was also possible tocooperate with tourism organizations during theconstruction phase, so that both parties could continue
their work.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/second-45mw-unit-of-theistareykir-geothermal-power-plant-startsoperation-in-iceland/
40th Session of the UNU-GTP Opened on April The United Nations University-Geothermal Training
Program (UNU-GTP) was established in the shadow of
the oil crisis, when nations were looking for new andrenewable energy sources in order to reduce
dependence on hydrocarbons, in particular oil with its
rapidly escalating prices. The current situation issomewhat similar in the sense that the international
community is looking towards renewable energy sources
as an alternative to fossil fuels in order to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases.
The development of geothermal resources requires agroup of highly skilled specialists from a number ofdisciplines of science and engineering. Because of its
diversity, geothermal energy has not been taught as a
specific subject at universities.
The first official statement on establishing a UNU
geothermal institute in Iceland was made in 1975 when
the United Nations University (UNU) had just been
established. After a first proposal in 1976 and aninternational workshop in 1978, the Government of
Icelanddecidedin
October 1978 to ask
Orkustofnun(the
National
EnergyAuthority - NEA), to signan
Agreementon
Association with the
UNU and establish theUnitedNations
University Geothermal
Training
Programme(UNU-GTP). The UNUGTP has been hosted by
the Orkustofnun eversince. The Government
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
of Iceland funds UNU-GTP through its official
development assistance.
The first annual training session of the UNU-GTP
started in May 1979 with two UNU Fellows from thePhilippines. Since then, a group of scientists andengineers from energy agencies and researchorganizations as well as universities in the developing
countries and Central and Eastern European countries,
have come to Iceland every spring to spend six months
in highly specialized studies in geological exploration,
borehole geology, geophysical exploration, reservoir
engineering, borehole geophysics, chemistry of thermal
fluids, environmental science, geothermal utilization,
drilling technology, and project management andfinances.
UNU-GTP also offers successful candidates thepossibility of extending their studies to MSc, or PhD
degrees in geothermal sciences or engineering incooperation with the University of Iceland andReykjavik University.
The UNUGTP
Director,
Lúdvik S.
Georgsson,
lead the2018
opening
ceremony
and gave aspeechabout thework and
history of
the thisprogramandwelcomed
Lúdvik S. Georgsson
the new
group of
Fellows. Dr. Guðni A. Jóhannsson, the Director
General of Orkustofnun, welcomed the Fellows onbehalf of the host institution.
This year 24 UNU Fellows from 14 countries participate
in the six month specialized courses. The Fellows comefrom Bolivia, China, Djibouti, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nevis, Philippines, St.
Lucia, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Source:http://www.unugtp.is/en/organization/frettir/the40th-session-of-the-unu-gtp
Chinese Companies Invest in District Geothermal
Heating Company - Arctic Green Energy, a renewableenergy company based in Reykjavík, focusing on
www.geothermal-energy.org

40
creating zero-emission cities, has completed a new
funding deal from CITIC Capital, China Everbright Ltd.
and Asian Development Bank.
CITIC Capital, an early investor in Arctic Green Energy
since 2015, has exercised its conversion rights to acquire
equity of US$30 million in Arctic Green Energy. China
Everbright Ltd. has purchased shares and an
exchangeable bond issued by Arctic Green Energy for a
total of US$70 million.
Asia Development Bank announced on March 22 it
would provide a US$250 million loan to Sinopec Green
Energy Geothermal Co (SGE) and Arctic Green Energy
Corp (AGE) to develop clean geothermal heat in smogprone northern China. SGE is a joint venture set up by
China’s state-owned oil giant Sinopec and AGE.
Arctic Green Energy focuses on creating zero emission
cities through renewable resources, technology andinfrastructure. Currently, most of its projects are basedon geothermal as the primary energy source.
After the completion of the current deals, HaukurHarðarson, chairman and founder of Arctic Green
Energy, will remain the company’s majority shareholder,with CITIC Capital and China Everbright holding
significant minority stakes.
“We have been working with Arctic Green Energy forthree years now, and this milestone in the company’s
development confirms all…it has achieved so far in
implementing geothermal technology in China andabroad,” said Fanglu Wang, senior managing partner at
CITIC Capital.
Founded in 2002, CITIC Capital is an alternative
investment management and advisory company withover US$22 billion under management across 100 funds
and investment products through its multiple asset classplatform covering private equity, real estate, structured
investment & finance, and asset management.
China Everbright Ltd. (CEL) is China EverbrightGroup’s largest cross-border asset-management andinvestment platform. Through its managed funds andprincipals, CEL has invested in more than 300
companies in China and around the world.
Source:https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2018/04/26/cit
ic-capital-china-everbright-back-renewable-energy-firmarctic-green-energy

The Netherlands:
Lansingerland, Pijnacker, andOther Geothermal Projects
Geothermal Doublet Completed in Lansingerland In Bergschenhoek north of Rotterdam in the
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

41

Netherlands, Wayland Energy iscurrently developing several concessions
in order to produce thermal water forheat
production
purposes.
Warmtebedrijf Bergschenhoek BV, asubsidiary of Wayland Energy, isutilizing the geothermal energy to heatgreenhouses
situatedintheLansingerland region and contracted the
Joint
VentureZüblinGroundEngineering and Huisman Equipment
for drilling and completion of ageothermal doublet as a turnkey projectwith lump sum contract.
The JV executed all subsurface works
for the completion of the geothermal
Drilling rig on site on Bergschenhoek project site, Netherlands (credit:
doubletintheLansingerland
Zublin; taken from the source).
concession. The wells were drilled using
April and the installation will heat a large area ofthe Huisman LOC 400 drilling rig –a fully containerized
greenhouses, a residential area and a local pool. The
modular rig outfitted with a fully automated pipewells will be drilled directionally to a planned depth ofhandler and rig floor.
approximately 2300 meters.
The production and injection wells have been
The well will be drilled utilizing the Huisman LOC 400
successfully drilled with positive displacement mud
drilling rig –a fully containerized modular rig outfitted
motors instead of using a rotary steerable system towith a fully automated pipe-handler and rig floor. End
2709 m (maximum inclination of 54°) and 2860 m
2017, the LOC also successfully finalised a geothermal(maximum inclination of 61°) in order to produce
energy project in Bergschenhoek, the Netherlands.
thermal water from the Berkel/Rijswijk Sandstone andSource:Delft Sandstone which have been selected as thehttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6
primary target formations. The secondary target
402145927150264320(Alblasserdam) was also encountered in the production
drilling.
Geothermal Projects Awarded in Second Round of
the SDE+ Program - Netherlands Enterprise Agency
The drilling works included all drilling services: drilling(Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland – RVO)
fluid and solid control, directional drilling, casing
announced in May that it has allocated around 3330
running, cementing, mud logging, wireline logging).
MW of renewable energy generation capacity throughAlso the required energy and material supply (casings,
the second round of its 2017 SDE+ (Stimulering
float equipment, liner hanger, mud chemicals,
Duurzame Energieproductie) program, out of which 149.4
wellheads) and the waste management, have been part
MW was for geothermal projects. The biggest sharesof the contract.
were for solar PV (57.3% of the total) and onshore wind
The pump tests showed a very productive reservoir with(34.1%), and a total of 4215 renewable energy
at least 400 m³/h flowrate and up to 63°C temperature.
installations were ultimately selected in the round.
With the recently established connection of the
The five geothermal projects and their thermal installed
geothermal heat plant to the local district heating system
capacity are as follows:
the connected greenhouses can now grow plants and- Amerlaan Geothermie B.V., 31.2 MWthvegetables on a CO2-neutral basis. It is planned toconnect about 15 greenhouses in the Bergschenhoek- ECW Geo Andijk B.V., 32.2 MWthand Bleiswijk area.
- Hoogweg Aardwarmte B.V., 29.3 MWthSource: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/successful- Ennatuurlijk B.V., 20.6 MWthcompletion-of-geothermal-doublet-in-the-netherlands/- Agriport Warmte B.V., 36 MWthDrilling Starts at Pijnacker Geothermal District
Heating Project – The drilling Dutch company
Including the latest round, around 5.9 GW of solar
Huisman Equipment B.V. was recently awarded acapacity has been allocated in all rounds of the SDE+
contract for the delivery of a geothermal doublet inprogram since it was launched in 2008. In the four first
Pijnacker, the Netherlands. Drilling started at the end ofyears of the program, solar had only a minimal share,
www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
overwhelmed by wind and geothermal projects. As thecosts of PV technology started to decrease consistently,
and the Dutch energy sector began becoming aware of
the advantages of PV, solar saw its share growsignificantly round by round.
Source: https://www.pvmagazine.com/2018/05/09/netherlands-awards-1-9gw-of-pv-in-sde-2017-autumn-round/,http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/five-geothermalprojects-under-renewable-energy-funding-programnetherlands/

42
engine test site. This has never been achieved before in
Norway,” says Thor Erik Musæus, the project’s generalmanager, who adds that the extracted energy could also
be used to heat large buildings.
Source: https://standbynordic.com/why-is-an-airportdrilling-norways-deepest-borehole/

Romania: District Heating
Project Planned in Oradea

Norway’s deepest geothermal well was underconstruction at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, with the aim
to use the natural heat to heat the engine test site inwinter.

A geothermal district heating project is being planned in
Romania. The Nurafel geothermal district heating
project includes drilling of two injection and two
production deep wells (at 2900 m depth) and theconstruction of a new district heating network. It could
start this fall, according to Mayor Ilie Bolojan and
Deputy Mircea Mărlan, in Oradea, Romania. The
project funded by funds from Norway, likely through
EEA Grants, will reinject used water.

Airport operator, Avinor, is managing the energy
project, called Rock Energy, in partnership with thecompany Båsum Boring through its joint venture
Norwegian Energy Drilling.

The Nurafel geothermal project refers to the area
known as Nufărul 1, between the streets of Constantin
Noica, Nufărului and Bumbacului-Morii, that will
provide heat to more than 13,000 people.

The Norwegian technology “allows us to drill the
deepest land-based geothermal borehole in Norway
ever,” enthuses Henning Bråtebæk, director of airside
operations. “It will enable us to use the heat in the
ground to heat buildings or other major installations”,
or in the case of this project, to heat the engine test site
and keep it clear of snow.

Besides the four deep wells, the project also envisages
the construction of a new district heating network, thepipes being laid over a length of more than 15 km. The
seven thermal points of the current district heating aregoing to be dismantled. “They will be demolished, theland will be equipped with green spaces and parking
spaces. At the request of the inhabitants, they can
become recreational spaces,” said the DeputyMărlan.

Norway: Deepest Well Drilled
at the Oslo Airport

Instead of the thermal points, one thermal
module will be installed in each of the blockstairs in the project perimeter, 276 in total. The
new network will remain connected to themunicipal district heating network, as a fail-safe
solution or extreme cold when geothermal water
heating fails to meet acceptable parameters.
The purpose of the project is to increase the useof geothermal water for the production ofthermal energy by creating new production
capacity. The goal would be to reduce
production costs and network losses.

Never before has a Norwegian land-based geothermalborehole been drilled so deep, Avinor says.

The investment volume of the project is EUR
19 million (US$23 million), of which the city will
cover EUR 4 million (US$4.9 million). It is
expected to launch the tender and, after
approval of the funding, the execution will becompleted in 24 months.

“We’ve drilled to a depth of 1,500 meters for bothboreholes, and when the project is completed theyshould be capable of heating the entire area of the

The private company Transgex is the holder of the
exploitation license for the geothermal water resource in
Oradea. However, the municipality wants to increase theDrilling site at the airport. Source: Avinor.

www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
city’s role, and is in the process of obtaining the
exploration and exploitation license for geothermal
water. The municipality aims to “take over thegeothermal water wells in Oradea…” from Transgex,“…to continue the investment by constructing new
wells and reinjection for the perimeter of the concessionthat Oradea has,” explained Mărlan.
The Deputy sees the possibility of two approaches: “a(public-private) partnership with Transgex or, if we do
not reach a convenient solution with this company,
licensing Termoficare SA to operate the geothermal
system.”Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/municipalityin-romania-plans-extension-of-geothermal-districtheating-system/

Switzerland: Successful Wellin Geneva, Geothermal
Greenhouses in Schlattingen
Successful Well for Heating Project in Geneva - The
first phase of the exploration well, completed as part of
the GEothermie 2020 program, confirms the forecasts
for the exploration phase for the geothermal heating
project in the canton of Geneva. Hot water was foundat 744 meters depth. The water naturally rises andreaches the surface at 33 degrees Celsius of temperatureand discharge rate of more than 50 liters per second.
The pilot project, managed by the canton of Geneva,
was implemented as part of the GEothermie 2020
program by the Industrial Works of Geneva (SIG). The
plan was that the theoretical data compiled in seismic
campaigns since 2014 should be confirmed with the
exploration. And it was to check that the targeted
geological strata and faults are at the positions predictedby the model and that the water temperature and thedischarge are in an interesting range. This first goal was
fully achieved and even surpassed expectations for watertemperature and runoff.
“These initial results are promising and allow the cantonof Geneva to implement its energy transition, inparticular thanks to renewable heat,” says Antonio
Hodgers, the State Councilor responsible for the
Département du Territoire (DT). “We aim to cover 20%
of our canton’s heating requirements with geothermalenergy by 2035.”
Instead of drilling at 650 meters as originally planned,
the well was drilled deepened to 744 meters to gather
additional information. The drilling will serve the cantonof Geneva as a reference in the preparation of theregulations of the law on the use of natural resources.
The law aims at a sustainable and controlled
development of geothermal energy.
www.geothermal-energy.org

43
The results ofthis well will beanalyzed indetail and as
many lessons
learned as
possible before
further
exploration
drilling is
performed. In
addition, theGEothermie2020 program
will continue its
work with newseismic
investigations.
These will be
implemented
between Juraand Salève on
Hot water flow. Photo byboth sides ofGeothermie 2020.
the national
border in 2018and 2019 and in consultation with the Frenchauthorities.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/first-drillingresults-promising-for-geothermal-heating-project-ingeneva-switzerland/
Geothermal Greenhouses Restarted in Schlattingen- Hansjörg Grob Vegetable Agriculture, a large
vegetable production company with extensive
greenhouses in Schlattingen, has restarted the pumps for
its geothermal heating system. The project now again
derives water with a temperature of 60°C, after a twoyear involuntary break.
In February 2016 the company had to stop using its
geothermal well, as oil-contaminated water reached theriver Rhine. For a long time it was assumed thatsabotage was responsible. But early 2018, it was
discovered that natural oil from the subsurface was thereason for it.
Now, it will take about one year to provide the company
with sufficient data in order to obtain the concession fora permanent operation of the geothermal system fromthe canton.
The company wants to use the thermal water to heat thegreenhouses and in return to refrain having to use oil.
The experiment will show how the operation affects thethermal water. The cooled and treated water should bedischarged into the Rhine “in compliance with all legal
requirements,” according to a press release from thecompany. A closed derivation and “various safety andJuly-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
protective measures have been realized”. These
measures are a consequence of the accident two yearsago.
The vegetable farmer Hansjörg Grob was looking for
hot water for five years. The geothermal project inSchlattingen was started in December 2010, when the
drilling work began. In March 2015, the two deep wells
were completed. At a depth of 1,500 to 2,000 meters,
there is water at a temperature of 65 degrees Celsius,
which Grob wants to use to heat greenhouses and thus
replace natural gas or oil. In the spring of 2015 Grob
started the trial operation to use the thermal water asheating energy. In May 2015, there was a first oil spillsin the local Geisslibach. The trial operation wasinterrupted and should have resumed in February 2016,
where it came to renewed pollution.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/pumpsrestarted-for-geothermal-heating-of-greenhouseoperations-in-schlattingen-switzerland/

United Kingdom: Plans
Submitted For Geothermal
Research Opportunity
Two of the UK’s leading scientific agencies havesubmitted plans for a new research development
proposed for the Clyde Gateway area in the east end of
Glasgow.
The focus of the research at the Glasgow Geothermal
Energy Research Field Site would be geothermal energy.
It is one of two sites proposed in the £31 million(US$42.2 million) UK Geoenergy Observatories Project44
led by The Natural Environment Research Council(NERC), the UK’s main agency for funding
environmental sciences, and the British Geological
Survey (BGS), the UK’s principal provider of impartial
geological evidence since 1835. This major project will
provide infrastructure for future research opportunities.
The second site is proposed for Cheshire.
The Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site
would be a £9 million (US$12.24 million) project to
explore the potential of geothermal energy for the
benefit of local communities, as well as innovation andresearch into the subsurface. The project aims to create
an opportunity for research in relation to the geothermalenergy potential of the warm waters in the large expanseof disused coal mines under Glasgow. It may bepossible to use that water to heat homes and businesses
and store waste heat for future use.
The field site proposed for the Clyde Gateway area
would comprise a number of wells of various depths tocreate the opportunity to research the area’s geology andunderground water systems. Measurements would betaken from wells, such as temperature, water movement
and water chemistry, and the data will be monitored andassessed in the coming years.
The BGS’s chief geologist for Scotland, Diarmad
Campbell, said: “The UK Geoenergy Observatory in
Glasgow would further our understanding of theshallow geothermal energy contained within flooded
mine workings. It would help us to better understandthat environment and to determine whether the warm
water within the mine workings below UK towns andcities could provide a sustainable heat source to help
power the future.”
The BGS held a community
engagement
event
in
Dalmarnock in September
2017 and has since been
consulting
with
local
stakeholders and residents.
The BGS has been working
on the technical details fortheObservatoryandsubmitted last April 2018
planning applications for 22
wells over seven locations
area to Glasgow City
CouncilandSouth
Lanarkshire Council for
consideration.
The observatory wells would
enableenvironmental
baseline observation andminecharacterization,
providingareal

www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

45

environment for scientists to research the potential ofusing the heat from the UK’s flooded mineworkings.
The observatory would be operational over a 15-year
lifespan and open to the whole of the UK science
community to undertake research. Realtime data fromstate-of-the-art sensors would feed from the boreholes
to an online portal that would be open, free andaccessible to all.
Source:http://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/docs/GlasgowPlanningSu
bmissionPressStatement_23.04.18.pdf

Oceania
Australia: Birdsville Decides
Farewell to Geothermal
Plans to replace what was Australia’s only utility-owned
and operated geothermal power station in Birdsville –asmall town at the end of the eponymous Birdsville
Track, in central west Queensland– have been dumped
in favor of a switch to distributed solar and storage.
State government-owned network operator Ergon
Energy said in early June that it would encourage
residents of the frontier town to install rooftop solar PV
and battery storage as the best option for increasing
renewables on the isolated grid.

renewable energy such as PV and the continued
reduction in energy storage costs, which is expected to
substantially alter the energy requirements of ourisolated communities in the future,” he said.
“Ergon’s adoption of geothermal technology at
Birdsville in 1992 was ground-breaking, but it remained
the only utility-owned and operated plant in Australia
until it reached the end of life and ceased supplying
power to customers last year”, Dahlenburg explained.
Source: https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/birdsvillebids-farewell-geothermal-opts-solar-battery-storageinstead/

Ergon said it had “reluctantly decided” not to continue
with plans to replace the town’s geothermal power
station, which at its peak supplied up to 20 per cent of
the town’s electricity needs.

New Zealand: Collaboration
Agreement on Geothermal
Signed with U.S.

Those plans would have integrated a new geothermal
power station with the existing diesel power station,
lifting the share of renewables generation to 70 per centfor the outback, off grid town.

The New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovationand Employment (MBIE) and the United States
Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) have signed a newpartnership agreement to facilitate collaboration on the
research and development of geothermal technologies.

Ergon’s manager of isolated networks, Glenn
Dahlenburg, said the decision to drop the geothermal
component was guided by rapidly changing energy
market dynamics –in particular, the plummeting cost ofsolar PV.
“This decision was made due to rapidly changing
energy market driven by our customers’ adoption of“New Zealand has an abundant supply of renewablegeothermal reserves and a long history of utilizing thisreliable and cost effective energy source to produce
electricity,” says New Zealand’s Minister of Research,
Science and Innovation, Megan Woods“While the capacity we have to generate electricity from

GEOTHERMICS
International Journal of Geothermal Research and its
Applications
Write to JournalsCustomerServiceEMEA@elsevier.com if
you want a suscription at a special rate for IGA members.
Content of the latest issues:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/geothermics
www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
geothermal sources has significantly grown over the past
decade and it now contributes around 17 per cent of
New Zealand’s electricity supply, this resource still
offers vast and untapped potential as an energy source.
“This new research partnership with the United States
Department of Energy will bring together experts fromboth countries to harness this potential and accelerate
the development of geothermal technologies. It will also
contribute towards our goal of 100% renewable energy
by 2050.”
The partnership builds on New Zealand’s existingcommitment to geothermal science through theInternational Partnership of Geothermal Technology(IPGT), together with the United States, Iceland,
Switzerland and Australia.
“New Zealand will be working closely with the UnitedStates to increase efficiency and advance cost-effective
geothermal energy technologies,” says Woods.
“The partnership with the United States will accelerate
the availability of these technologies internationally, andidentify and address wider issues relating to geothermalenergy while informing appropriate technical andregulatory environments.”
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/new-zealandand-u-s-sign-collaboration-agreement-on-rd-ofgeothermal-technologies/

Other
Geothermal Power Capacity
Increased 5.6% in 2017
By the end of 2017, global renewable generation
capacity increased by 167 GW and reached 2,179 GW

46
worldwide. This represents a yearly growth of around
8.3%, the average for seven straight years in a row,according to new data released by the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in its report
Renewable Capacity Statistics 2018, released in early
April.
Renewable power generation capacity is measured as the
maximum net generating capacity of power plants andother installations that use renewable energy sources to
produce electricity. For most countries andtechnologies, the data reflects the capacity installed andconnected at the end of the calendar year. Data has beenobtained from a variety of sources, including IRENA’s
questionnaire, official national statistics, industry
association reports, other reports and news articles.
In particular, geothermal power capacity increased by
692 MW in 2017, with major expansions in Indonesia(306 MW) and Turkey (243 MW), and including the firstgeothermal power plant in South America in Chile.
According to the IRENA statistics, complemented withsome independent data, geothermal energy rose from
12,249 MW in 2016 to 12,941 MW capacity in 2017, anincrease of 5.6%. The U.S. remains the top producer
with 2,488 MW followed by Indonesia (1,950 MW), thePhilippines (1,928 MW), Turkey (1,064 MW) and New
Zealand (986 MW) (see graph below, prepared with datafrom IRENA and other recent data).
Source:http://irena.org/publications/2018/Mar/RenewableCapacity-Statistics-2018

Technology: More Efficient
Fracture Networks in Deep
Gas, Oil and Geothermal Wells
Thermalborehole
enlargement
through thermal spallation can beused to bore deep wells for gas, oil orgeothermal exploitation in hard rock.
It could also boost the efficiency of
new wells and recovery ofabandoned wells.
The shape of the borehole can be
optimized in order to enhance thesubsequent stimulation process.
The creation of deep reservoirs forgas, oil and geothermal energy
extraction is impeded by insufficient
stimulation. Direction and extensionof the created fractures are complex
to control and, therefore, large
stimulated
andinterconnected
fracture networks are difficult tocreate.

www.geothermal-energy.org

July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
In order to reduce the project failure risks and increase
the reservoir productivity, the Swiss company ETH
Zürich has developed a technology to control thecreation of engineered reservoirs in hard deep rocks.
Thermal borehole enlargement is a technique that
locally increases the well diameter by utilizing thethermal spallation process to excavate rock on the
sidewalls of an existing borehole. One or multiple
nozzles are placed at the circumference of a burnerassembly, creating a hot jet of combustion gases.
When this hot jet impinges on the rock, high thermal
stresses are induced, which lead to the disintegration of
the rock surface. An adaptable packer system avoids
water penetration during the jetting process andregulates the pressure in the jetting zone.
The prototype was successfully tested at the Grimsel
Test Site, and can be used in a wide range of defined
borehole enlargement geometries (e.g. notches, discs,
slots). It produces an optimized fracture propagation in
hydraulic stimulation phase, reducing fluid pressure to
initiate fracturing process and increases the well
productivity by additionally reducing the project failurerisk. The technology is applicable in any deep well forgas, oil or geothermal exploitation in hard rock.
The research was published in Applied Energy 212, by
M.A. Kant et al. (2018).
Source: https://sciencebusiness.net/networknews/boring-technology-makes-deeper-and-safer-wells

47
increases, and studies have shown that the condenser
purchase cost can account for more than 35% of thetotal purchased equipment costs for an ORC system.
In addition, factory building area and system
maintenance costs also increase as the condenser heattransfer area increases.
The large condenser heat transfer area has been one of
the crucial factors that impedes the broad application of
ORC systems using zeotropic mixtures. Increasing thecondensation heat transfer coefficient is an effective
approach to reducing the condenser heat transfer area.
However, conventional enhanced heat transfer methods
generally increase the pressure drop duringcondensation, thereby degrading the thermodynamic
performance of ORC system.
Liquid-separated condensation is an emerging enhanced
heat transfer method that separates the condensed fluid
from the vapor-liquid mixture during condensation. It
reduces the condensing film thickness on the coolingsurface and increases the vapor quality. The key idea is
to use the excellent heat transfer characteristics of highquality vapor to increase the condensation heat transfer
coefficient, as shown in Fig. 2. Separating thecondensed fluid also reduces the flow resistance duringcondensation. Therefore, liquid-separated condensation
can simultaneously increase the condensation heattransfer coefficient and reduce the pressure drop.

Technology: Improvements of
ORC Using Mixtures with
Liquid-Separated
Condensation
In an Organic Rankin Cycle (ORC) system, the working
fluid is an important carrier for achieving the power
generation from heat sources, and it crucially affects thesystem performance. The zeotropic mixture consists of
two or more pure fluids, and it can significantly increase
the selectable range of working fluids for ORC systems.
Moreover, the zeotropic mixture has a varying phasechange temperature which is beneficial to reduce theexergy loss in the heat transfer processes, and thereby
considerably increasing the heat–power conversion
efficiency for ORC systems, compared to pure fluids.
Using zeotropic mixtures in ORC systems has been a
new trend in recent years. However, compared to using
a pure fluid, ORC systems using a zeotropic mixture
generally need a larger heat transfer area, especially alarger condenser heat transfer area; mainly due to thedecreases of heat transfer temperature difference andcondensation heat transfer coefficient. The purchased
cost of the condenser increases as the heat transfer area
www.geothermal-energy.org

Fig. 2. Schematic for the liquid-separated
condensation that enhances the condensation
heat transfer (Vapor–liquid separation occurs
twice) (Graph from the source).
However, unlike pure fluids, the composition of azeotropic mixture will change after the liquid isseparated from the vapor-liquid two phase flow in theliquid-separated unit, and the characteristics of mixture
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
condensation are also different for various vapor
qualities at the liquid-separated unit inlet (xLSI, whichreflects the liquid-separated unit relative location in thecondenser), as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, for ORC
system using zeotropic mixtures with liquid-separated
condensation, effects of vapor quality at the liquidseparated unit inlet on the net power output,
condensation heat transfer coefficient, and heat transfer
area, become all important issues need to be studied.

Fig. 3. Liquid-separated condensation changes thecomposition and condensation temperature
characteristics of a zeotropic mixture (graph form
the source).
In this work, the liquid-separated condensation method
was first introduced into an ORC system using
zeotropic mixtures (R600/R601a mixtures). The
potential of liquid-separated condensation in reducing
the heat transfer area was assessed, compared to theconventional condensation without liquid-separation.
Effects of vapor quality at the liquid-separated unit inlet
on the net power output, condensation heat transfer
coefficient, and heat transfer area were studied.
Characteristics of the ORC system using zeotropic
mixtures with liquid-separation condensation were also
revealed.
Results show that the liquid-separated condensation
may reduce the maximized net power output of an ORC
system using zeotropic mixtures. Moreover, themaximized net power output may decrease as the xLSI
decreases for zeotropic mixtures. The decrease of
maximized net power output is strongly related to theincrease of condensation pressure which is caused by
the increase of the total condensation temperature glide.
The liquid-separated condensation can increase theaverage condensation heat transfer coefficient by 23.8%
for R600/R601a mixtures, compared to theconventional condensation. The xLSI obtaining the
maximum average condensation heat transfer coefficientwww.geothermal-energy.org

48
is determined by the heat transfer coefficient profile inthe condenser, which is lower than 0.3 for the
R600/R601a mixture.
Results also show that the liquid-separated condensation
can reduce the condenser heat transfer area by 44.1%
for R600/R601a mixtures compared with theconventional condensation. In addition, when the
maximized net power output remains constant, thecondenser heat transfer area can be reduced by 11.6%
for R600/R601a mixtures with liquid-separation
condensation.
This work also indicates that the thermo-economic
method is more suitable to analyze the performance for
ORC systems using zeotropic mixtures with liquidseparation condensation because the liquid-separated
condensation can significantly reduce the condenser
heat transfer area while it may also reduce themaximized net power output for ORC systems using
zeotropic mixtures. The single-stage liquid-separated
condensation can reduce the electricity generation costby 1.3%-2.6% compared with the conventionalcondensation for R600/R601a mixtures. The lowest
electricity generation cost occurs at the R600 massfraction of 0.9 with xLSI = 0.3, and the electricity
generation cost is reduced by 1.7% compared to R600
with the conventional condensation, and 6.9%
compared to R601a with the conventionalcondensation.
Source: https://sciencetrends.com/performanceanalysis-of-organic-rankine-cycles-using-r600-r601amixtures-with-liquid-separated-condensation/

Technology: The CHPM2030
Project and Delphi Survey
The CHPM2030 project is one of the projects being
developed in the European Union under the umbrellaof Horizon 2020. The consortium is working on anovel, potentially disruptive technology that combines
geothermal energy and mineral extraction in a single
interlinked process: Combined Heat, Power and Metal
extraction, or in short CHPM.
This technology aims to increase financial feasibility ofgeothermal projects, by recovering strategicallyimportant metals (e.g. Au, Sn, Fe, Li, REE, etc.) fromthe geothermal brine. Therefore the engineered
geothermal reservoir is developed in deep rocks thathave a deep metal enrichment (such as a low grade, highvolume ore body), allowing for both geothermal andmineral potential.
The CHPM2030 project started in 2016 and alreadyprovided a methodology framework, laboratory results
on metal content mobilization using mild leaching, andsimulationsfororebody
characteristics(see
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
www.chpm2030.eu/outreach). The current tasks include
metal recovery, system integration and integrated
environmental assessment.
As part of the project, CHPM2030 launched a survey
among a group of selected experts around the world
asking for comment on statements about the future, in
2050. The survey was created by the working unit on
Roadmapping and Preparation for Pilots, with the goal
to set the scene for subsequent pilot implementation,
including short-term planning (2030, preparation forpilots) and long-term planning (2050, horizon scanning),
and research roadmaps for 2030 and 2050 that elaborate
on how to get to the desired vision by the selected
timelines. This is a 2-round Delphi survey that maps
future development of uncertain but important areas for
CHPM technology application.
The Delphi survey was originally developed as atechnological forecasting technique, which aimed atreaching consensus over relevant technologicaldevelopments. Nowadays, Delphi has expanded into avariety of modified approaches. However, at its core
Delphi stands out as a reliable methodin situations where individual
judgements must be elicited andcombined to address an incomplete
state of knowledge. Delphi is basedon anonymous opinions of experts
who are fed back the results of around-based survey, allowing theseexperts to rethink their judgement andconverge to consensus over key
identified areas.

49
injection well, one of eight boreholes drilled for thisexperiment.
“We requested quiet because we use sensitive seismic
monitoring equipment,” said Tim Kneafsey, earthscientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory(LBNL). “The signals we measure are very small and we
don’t want vibrations from other sources overwhelming
those signals.”Kneafsey is the principal investigator for the Enhanced
Geothermal Systems (EGS) Collab Project, acollaboration comprised of eight national laboratories
and six universities who are working to improvegeothermal technologies. The test featured the SIMFIP(Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ
Properties), a tool that can revolutionize the way
scientists develop EGS projects.
Developed at LBNL, the SIMFIP allows precise
measurements of displacements in the rock and, mostimportantly, the aperture, or opening, of a hydrofracture.

Source:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/
1FAIpQLSeQAl_CeWwa1Lfk5XNG
M2gaMEjqlyAwOQPJdzGqpEn7XE
4eaA/viewform

Deep underground on the 4850 Level (~1480 m depth) at Sanford Lab.
Technology: SIMFIP,
Photo taken from the source.
a New Tool for
The extreme quiet paid off, Kneafsey said.
Measuring and Design Hydro“Our goal was to create a fracture from a specific zone
Fractures
The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF),
once the most productive gold mine in the Western
Hemisphere, is located in South Dakota, U.S., andcurrently hosts world-leading research in physics,
biology, geology and engineering. On May 22, 2018,
researchers with the SIGMA-V experiment worked innear silence in the West Drift on the 4850 Level of the
SURF (at around 1480 m depth). The locomotives sat
quietly on the tracks, jack-leg drills rested against drift
walls and operations ceased for several minutes at a timeas the team began pumping pressurized water into thewww.geothermal-energy.org

in our injection well that would connect to our
production well –about 10 meters away. And we weresuccessful in doing that,” Kneafsy said.
Before the introduction of the SIMFIP, separate tools
were used to create and measure hydro fractures. They
work like this: “Straddle packers”—pipes with two
deflated balloons on either end— are placed inside
boreholes. Once inside, the balloons are inflated andwater injected down the pipes to create an airtightsection. They continue to pump water until the rockfractures, then remove the packers and insert the
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
measuring tool. In the time it takes to do all that, muchof the pertinent data is lost, leaving traces, but little else.
“Even if you did get the aperture, when you released thepressure, the hydro fracture was already closing,” said
Yves Guglielmi, a geologist at LBNL who designed thetool. “You don’t have the ‘true’ aperture and you also
don’t know how the aperture might vary during thetest.”
With the introduction of the SIMFIP, a small device
that sits between the two packers, they can measure theaperture in real-time.
“This is really a new way to do the work,” Guglielmi
said. “It will help us understand the whole process of
initiating and growing hydro fractures in hard rock,which is kind of new. This is fundamental science. If weunderstand how hydro fractures will behave in this kindof rock, we can begin to make intelligent, complex
fractures that can capture more heat from the earth.”
The device is “bristling with sensors and other
instrumentation that give us a close-up view of what
happens when the rock is stimulated—all in real-time,”
said Paul Cook, LBNL engineer.
The SIMFIP measures fracture openings in hard rock in
the EGS Collab test site. The team had drilled eightslightly downward-sloping boreholes in the rib (side) of
the West Drift: The injection hole, used for stimulating
the rock, and production well, which produces the fluid,
run parallel to each other through the rock. Six otherboreholes contain equipment to monitor micro seismic
activity (rock displacement); electrical resistivity
tomography (subsurface imaging); temperature; andstrain (how rocks move when stimulated).

50
in GreenFire’s demonstration of a closed-loop
geothermal power generation system. J-Power Company
will have project observation and information rights.
This project is the first implementation of GreenFire
Energy Inc.’s innovative ECO2G™ closed-loop
geothermal technology and will demonstrate the ability
to produce power from a currently inactive well in the
Coso, California, geothermal field. The success of
ECO2G could enable geothermal project owners togenerate power from idle or marginal wells at low risk
and attractive cost per megawatt-hour. This is significant
because worldwide, about 20% of geothermal wells are
unproductive for a variety of reasons.
The demonstration project will insert a coaxial closedloop tube in an existing geothermal well that lacks
sufficient pressure and permeability to generate power.
Various fluids may be circulated to transfer heat to thesurface where power potential will be carefullymeasured.
Although generating power from existing but currently
non-producing geothermal wells would be an important
advancement in geothermal power technology,
GreenFire believes that success in geothermal well
retrofits can provide the expertise and credibility
required to eventually advance to large-scale ECO2G™
projects in locations unsuitable for conventional
geothermal power technology.

Nestled between the straddle packers in the injection
hole, the SIMFIP measured the rock opening as theteam looked on.
Measurements from the SIMFIP could remove barriers
that stand in the way of commercializing geothermal
systems. With the first test under its belt, the EGS
Collab just moved a step closer to that goal.
Source:https://www.sanfordlab.org/article/revolutionizinggeothermal-energy-researchTechnology: Demonstration of
Closed-loop Geothermal
Power Generation in
California, U.S.
GreenFire Energy Inc. announced on late June that
Electric Power Development Company, Ltd. (J-Power
Company), a utility company in Japan, and the U.S.’
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will participate
www.geothermal-energy.org“GreenFire Energy’s ECO2G™ technology is theculmination of years of research with the U.S.
Department of Energy, national laboratories, anduniversities. The decision of EPRI, a researchcollaborator with utility and energy companies
worldwide, to review our development project isconsistent with our effort to engage leading experts in
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
every relevant discipline”, said Joseph Scherer, Chief
Executive Officer of GreenFire Energy Inc.
Source: http://www.greenfireenergy.com/j-powerepri.html

Technology: Searching
Waterless Stimulation for
Geothermal Wells
The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) of the
U.S.’ Department of Energy (DOE) announced in earlyJuly the selection of three projects to receive up to
US$4.3 million in funding to conduct early-stage
research and development to advance state-of-the-art
waterless stimulation technologies applied to geothermal
wellbores.
The selected projects include:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Foam Fracturing
Study for Stimulation Development of Enhanced
Geothermal Systems.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Responsive
Fracturing Fluids for Enhanced Geothermal Systems.
Sandia National Laboratories – POT (Pressure,Orientation, & Timing) for Anhydrous Energetic
Stimulation.
The most commonly applied wellbore stimulation
technology, hydraulic fracturing, relies heavily on waterbased fracturing fluids due to the general availability andlow cost of water as well as its capability for proppanttransport. DOE is interested in developing stimulation
methods that require little to no water –reducing theusage needed for geothermal progress and easing
constraints on water consumption. In addition, there arecrosscutting applications with oil and gas, where there is
growing concern with the amount of waterdisposed after similar operations have been
completed.

51
Paris Agreement “simply aren’t ambitious enough.”She said that, with the Paris Agreement’s goal of
limiting global temperature rise by 1.5 degrees,countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs)
as they stand take the global temperature to almost
double that number.
“A rise of this magnitude in the temperature would be
extremely destabilizing and we can’t allow this tohappen. That’s why this process —these negotiations—
is so important,” she said in a live press conference
webcast on April 30. “During this round ofnegotiations, we are encouraging parties to increase
ambitions by making progress on the Paris Agreement
work program.”
During the talks in Bonn, participating governments
aimed to develop the guidelines —or operating
manual— for implementing the Paris Agreement. But
after two weeks the envoys from almost 200 nations left
Bonn without producing a draft negotiating text forministers to discuss at the end of the year. Instead, theyplanned another round of negotiations in Bangkok
before their annual conference in Poland in December.
The holdup threatens to unravel three years of work tocomplete the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal reachedin 2015 that set out an ambition to limit fossil-fuelpollution in all nations for the first time. Negotiators areworking toward writing a rule book that will help bring
the pact into force even as U.S. President Donald
Trump vowed to withdraw from the Paris framework.
Tensions have been building for years on the matter offinancing that industrial nations promised developing
ones to pay for transforming their economies to run onclean energy –and to cope with the more violent storms
and rising sea levels associated with higher global
temperatures.

Source:https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/ar
ticles/gto-announces-waterless-stimulationlab-call-selections

Climate Change: Climate
Pledges of the World Are
Not ‘Ambitious Enough’Speaking at the start of a new round ofclimate talks in Bonn, Germany, on late April,
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of theUnited Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCC), said the current
climate pledges put forth by signatories of the
www.geothermal-energy.org

View of the plenary session in Bonn.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

52

The climate talks finished with developing countries
demanding more clarity from their richer counterpartson when a promised package of US$100 billion in aid
will materialize. Rich countries led by the U.S. andEuropean Union pledged in 2009 to ramp up climaterelated aid to US$100 billion a year by 2020. While they
have made progress on that commitment, reaching
US$62 billion in 2014 according to one official study,
developing nations want more detail on what money iscoming before signing up to the Paris rules.

/04/climate-pledges-of-the-world-are-not-ambitiousenough.html,
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018/05/climate-talks-stall-as-detail-sought-on-100-billionfinance.html

Developing nations are being asked for moretransparency on the emissions they produce — and toopen up to some sort of process for verifying that
information. Many of them are concerned that will add
expensive and cumbersome bureaucracy —or thatricher nations will use those tools to limit trade. Richer
countries see the rules as essential to making credible
the pollution cuts that the Paris deal promises.

Scientists have developed a detailed analysis of how 22
recent hurricanes would be different if they formed
under the conditions predicted for the late 21st century.
While each storm’s transformation would be unique, onbalance, the hurricanes would become a little stronger, alittle slower-moving, and a lot wetter.

“If you don’t have policies that underpin the number
that’s been put in Paris, you’ve got nothing to drive
progress,” said Elina Bardram, a European Commission
official who’s head of the EU delegation at the talks in
Bonn.

Climate Change: Stronger,
Slower, and Wetter
Hurricanes in the Future

In one example, Hurricane Ike –which killed more than
100 people and devastated parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast
in 2008— could have 13 percent stronger winds, move
17 percent slower, and be 34 percent wetter if it formed
in a future, warmer climate.

The work of creating a text was supposed to becompleted in Bonn and now will shift to anothermeeting to be convened in Bangkok later this year. The
extra time would be used to produce clear options forthe end-of-year session in Katowice, Poland, which will
be attended by ministers and world leaders.
“We need that Bangkok session. Why? Because no
Bangkok session, no deal in Katowice,” said Tosi
Mpanu-Mpanu, a representative from the Democratic
Republic of Congo. “No deal in Katowice, some guys in
the U.S. will be celebrating, saying, we were right toleave this thing.”
Trump has remained mostly silent about the global fightagainst climate change since June 2017, when he vowed
to withdraw from the Paris deal. His predecessor,
Barack Obama, strongly supported the talks, with $2.7
million in climate-related aid in 2014 and a pledge tohelp capitalize the Green Climate Fund. Trump held up
money for the Green Climate Fund, and his officials in
Bonn declined to comment to the press.
Ambassador Luke Daunivalu, chief negotiator of the Fiji
COP23 Presidency, echoed the sense of urgency. He
said the Fijian COP23 Presidency is focused on
advancing the work program of the Paris Agreement.
“The work program must be completed at COP24, andany suggestion that they be delayed will delay overall
response to the climate crisis,” he said. “We don’t have
any time to waste.”
Sources:
https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018
www.geothermal-energy.org

Jose (top) and Maria hurricanes in 2017. Credit:
NASA.
Other storms could become slightly weaker (forexample, Hurricane Ernesto) or move slightly faster(such as Hurricane Gustav). None would become drier.
The rainfall rate of simulated future storms would
increase by an average of 24 percent.
The study, led by scientists at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and published in the
Journal of Climate, compares high-resolution computer
simulations of more than 20 historical, named Atlantic
storms with a second set of simulations that are identicalbut for a warmer, wetter climate that's consistent withthe average scientific projections for the end of the
century.
“Our research suggests that future hurricanes could
drop significantly more rain,” said NCAR scientist
Ethan Gutmann, who led the study. “Hurricane Harvey
demonstrated last year just how dangerous that can be.”July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Harvey produced more than 4 feet (1.2 m) of rain insome locations, breaking records and causing
devastating flooding across the Houston area.
The research was funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), which is NCAR’s sponsor, and by
DNV GL (Det Norske Veritas Germanischer Lloyd), a
global quality assurance and risk management company.
“This study shows that the number of strong
hurricanes, as a percent of total hurricanes each year,
may increase,” said Ed Bensman, a program director in
NSF’s Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences,which supported the study. “With increasing
development along coastlines, that has important
implications for future storm damage.”

53
The rate at which Antarctica is losing ice has tripled
since 2007, according to the latest available data. The
continent is now melting so fast, scientists say, that it
will contribute six inches (15 centimeters) to sea-level
rise by 2100. That is at the upper end of what theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has
estimated Antarctica alone could contribute to sea level
rise this century.
Even under ordinary conditions, Antarctica’s landscapeis perpetually changing as icebergs calve, snow falls andice melts on the surface, forming glacial sinkholes
known as moulins. But what concerns scientists is thebalance of how much snow and ice accumulates in agiven year versus the amount that is lost.

With more people and businesses relocating to coastal
regions, the potential influence of environmental change
on hurricanes has significant implications for public
safety and the economy. Last year’s hurricane season,
which caused an estimated US$215 billion in losses
according to reinsurance company Munich RE, was thecostliest on record.
For the current study, the researchers took advantage ofa massive new dataset created at NCAR. The scientists
ran the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)model at a high resolution (4 kilometers, or about 2.5
miles) over the contiguous United States over two 13year periods.
The simulations took about a year to run on the
Yellowstone supercomputer at the NCAR-Wyoming
Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne.
The first set of model runs simulates weather as it
unfolded between 2000 and 2013, and the second
simulates the same weather patterns but in a climate
that’s warmer by about 5 degrees Celsius –the amountof warming that may be expected by the end of the
century.
Source:https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=245396&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Climate Change: Antarctica Is
Melting Three Times as Fast
as a Decade Ago
Between 60 and 90 percent of the world’s fresh water isfrozen in the ice sheets of Antarctica, a continent
roughly the size of the United States and Mexico
combined. If all that ice melted, it would be enough toraise the world’s sea levels by roughly 200 feet (61 m).
While that won’t happen overnight, Antarctica is indeed
melting, and a study published in June in the journal
Nature shows that the melting is speeding up.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Photo credit: The New York Times (taken from the source).

Between 1992 and 2017, Antarctica shed three trillion
tons of ice. This has led to an increase in sea levels ofroughly three-tenths of an inch, which doesn’t seem likemuch. But 40 percent of that increase came from thelast five years of the study period, from 2012 to 2017.
Antarctica is not the only contributor to sea level rise.
Greenland lost an estimated 1 trillion tons of ice
between 2011 and 2014. And as oceans warm, theirwaters expand and occupy more space, also raising sea
levels. The melting ice and warming waters have all been
primarily driven by human emissions of greenhousegases.
Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/climate/antarc
tica-ice-melting-faster.html

Lithium Market: ChineseCompany Controls Most ofWorldwide Production
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112
Tianqi Lithium, a Chinese company, recently paid morethan US$4 billion to become the second-largest
shareholder in Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), a
Chilean mining company. The deal gives the company
effective control nearly half the current global
production of lithium, a critical component in battery
technology.
The investments is producing an unusual amount ofrepercussions. The Chinese government had tointervene to warn the Chilean government that blocking
the deal, which it has the power to do, could harm theirbilateral relations. The Chilean government is worried
that giving Tianqi so much control over lithium could
distort the market.
In recent years, China has come to dominate thelithium-ion industry. Though Japan had a head start,
because Sony was the company that firstcommercialized the technology, China was able to catchup because of its ability to manufacture the batteries atlarger scales and sell them for cheaper (see attachedgraph).
To maintain its dominance in the lithium-ion market,
Chinese manufacturers needs access to lots of cheap
lithium. Along with the stake in SQM, Tianqi owns 51%
of Australia’s Greenbushes lithium mine, giving it
effective control nearly half the current global
production of the metal, according to Huang Liheng, ananalyst at GF Securities.
But Chile could still have the last laugh. In April, thecountry’s economic development agency, Corfo,
complained that Tianqi’s control on lithium could“gravely distort market competition.” Regulators have achance to oppose the deal by August, if they think that
Tianqi owning so much of the world’s lithium is aproblem.

Source: https://qz.com/1292202/china-noweffectively-controls-half-the-worlds-lithium-production/
www.geothermal-energy.org

54

IGA News
IGA News is published quarterly by the International
Geothermal Association. IGA News disseminates
timely information about geothermal activities
throughout the world. To this end, a group of
correspondents has agreed to supply news for eachissue. The core of this group consists of the IGA
Information Committee:
Peter Meier, Switzerland (Chairman)
Rolf Bracke, Germany
Varun Chandrasekhar, India
Albert Genter, France
Lúdvík S. Georgsson, Iceland
Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, México
Susan F. Hodgson, USA
Herman Darnel Ibrahim, Indonesia
Liu Jirong, China
Kristín Vala Matthíasdóttir, Iceland
Georgina Izquierdo-Montalvo, Mexico
Marcelo J. Lippmann, USA
Diego Morata, Chile
Fernando S. Peñarroyo, Philippines
Horst Rüter, Germany
Ka Noel Salonga, Philippines
Marietta Sander, Germany
Surya Darma, Indonesia
Massimo Verdoya, Italy
Shigeto Yamada, Japan
Meseret T. Zemedkun, Ethiopía
The members of this group submit geothermal news
from their parts of the world, or their areas of
specialization. If you have some news, a report, or anarticle for IGA News, you can send it to any of theabove individuals, the Editor or directly to the IGA
Secretariat. Please help us to become essential
reading for anyone seeking the latest information on
geothermal worldwide.
While the editorial team makes every effort to ensure
accuracy, the opinions expressed in contributed
articles remain those of the authors and are notnecessarily those of the IGA. The editorial team does
not assume any liability for external content takenfrom public sources and websites, or endorse theproducts or services mentioned.
Send IGA News contributions to the editor(l.g.negrin@gmail.com) and/or:International Geothermal Association (IGA)
c/o Bochum University of Applied Sciences,E-mail: iga@hs-bochum.de
This issue of IGA News was edited by Luis C.A.
Gutiérrez-Negrín. Marit Brommer proofread thearticles. Distributed by the IGA Secretariat. Design
layout by François Vuataz.
July-September 2018

IGA News No. 112

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