ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

Academic-business and civil partnership seeks encouragement of geothermal in Mexico

An academic-business consortium and a civil association has announced the formation of a private civil association seeking to encourage geothermal production in Mexico, and support a roadmap towards reaching a 750 MW of additional geothermal capacity by 2030.

An academic-business consortium and a civil association seek to encourage geothermal production in Mexico, as reported by the Center of Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada, Baja California in a newsletter last month. The group supports the 750 MW target of additional geothermal power generation capacity in Mexico at 2030 by SENER.

As it approaches its fourth and final year of operation, the Mexican Center for Innovation in Geothermal Energy (CEMIE-Geo) announced the formation of a private civil association that will link capacity in infrastructure and human resources of this consortium with the public and private productive sector, a project management that will seek to transcend these beyond the funding they currently have, and the publication of the geothermal energy technological road map that defines the capacities and priorities of the country in this matter.

This was announced during the seventh Workshop on Progress of Projects, where it was also announced that the digital collection that seeks to preserve, protect, standardize and disseminate bibliographic resources in geothermal energy, as well as stock exchange services, are already available on its website, with work and technological available to companies and interested institutions.

In addition, a review was made of the issues that CEMIE-Geo has pending, among which is the accreditation of the most demanded analysis protocols and equipment; the inventory of capacities and a market study for the specialized laboratories they have; the offer of online courses and the management of new projects.

The Project Advances Workshop of the CEMIE-Geo ended March 23, with the main objectives of reporting in detail the progress status of the projects, highlighting how they can contribute to the permanence of the CEMIE-Geo, and identify opportunities of business.

11 academic institutions and 11 companies participated in the workshop. The workshop allowed to evaluate the progress of the four themes (30 research projects in total) in which they have been working since 2014, which are: Technological developments for exploitation; Direct uses of geothermal heat; Evaluation of national geothermal resources, and Development and innovation of exploration techniques.

Two round tables were held to discuss progress in the so-called cross-cutting projects: the system of specialized laboratories and the training of human resources.

José Manuel Romo Jones, CICESE researcher in geophysics and technical manager of CEMIE-Geo, presented on behalf of the management group an activity report highlighting the formation of this civil association by the private companies that participate in the consortium.

Not all academic institutions are participating in the association at this time, and those that do are associated (they do not contribute resources). Thus, it is intended that this civil association function as a marketing agency to attract projects, to offer consulting services, specialized analysis and provide technical training.

Among its functions, it is important to identify business opportunities for the final products of each strategic project; take advantage of the analytical capacity of the specialized laboratory system; the training and training of specialized human resources in companies and the academic sector; the management of projects with public or private financing offering the capacities of the whole consortium, and the one of connection with the productive sector in geothermal and other industries (such as mining) that can demand the services of the consortium.

He clarified that with this partnership, CEMIE-Geo has two themes working in parallel: the set of academic institutions and the private sector that operate as a consortium, which they hope will transcend the mega-project format with which they have received funding from the Fund. Sectorial CONACYT – Energy Secretariat (SENER) for Energy Sustainability (FES) since 2014, and the new CEMIE-Geo AC scheme

He said that to identify projects that once concluded in the consortium, can continue but now with direct funding from CONACYT, SENER or private industry, a project management was created under the direction of Dr. Carlos Vera Mendoza.

He announced on the other hand that SENER published the technological route map in geothermal energy in which they worked for months together with other entities. This document establishes as a national goal for 2030 to produce 750 additional MW of electricity from geothermal energy.

He considered that it is not a very ambitious goal and that is why it was discussed a lot, but in the end it was the most realistic considering the capabilities of the Federal Electricity Commission. The roadmap highlights reforms to the regulatory framework of the sector, a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and short, medium and long-term objectives for low, medium and high enthalpy resources, super-heat and non-conventional systems, as well as matter of public policies.

The Mexican Center for Innovation in Geothermal Energy is an initiative of the federal government that involves the public, private and academic institutions to develop technologies, products and services that allow our country to take advantage of the main renewable energies (geothermal, solar, wind, ocean and biological).

The CICESE leads the CEMIE-Geo, and in this research center, the Michoacán University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo, the National Institute of Electricity and Clean Energies, the Polytechnic University of Baja California, the Center for Advanced Technology -CIATEC- participate. , the University of Guadalajara and the UNAM (the institutes of Geophysics, Renewable Energies, Engineering, Geology and the Center of Geosciences), and the CFE companies, Geothermal and Renewable Energy Cluster, Geotem Ingeniería, SA de CV, Exploration , Perforación y Estudios del Subsuelo, SA de CV, Geology, Mining and Consulting, SA de CV, Specialists in Turbopartes, SA de CV, Prados Camelinas, SA de CV, Bajainnova, GS Energía, SA de CV, Energy Business Generators Renovable, SC y GeoConsul, SA de CV

For more information: Norma Herrera, head of the communication department, nherrera@cicese.mx

Source: Conacyt prensa

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