Program released for International Geothermal Conference, March 4-5, 2015
International Geothermal Conference 2013 in Freiburg, Germany (source: Enerchange)
Alexander Richter
9 Feb 2015
The 11th International Geothermal Conference has just released its program for the event. It will take place this year in Offenburg, Germany in conjunction with the GeoTHERM trade show.
Held annual, the annual International Geothermal Conference (IGC) has established itself as one of the key events for the geothermal energy sector in Germany. Taking place March 4-5, 2015, the program for this year’s 11th International Geothermal Conference (IGC 2015) has just been released.
This year the Conference offers a broad variety of geothermal topics picking ongoing challenges for the industry. In the focus of the IGC 2015 is the development in Turkey and France with a variety of experts showcasing the utilisation of geothermal energy in these countries. This year’s conference will take place for the first time in Offenburg partly accompanying the GeoTHERM geothermal trade show taking place March 5-6, 2015.
Like in the years before, the IGC 2015 attracts visitors from all over the world: Besides the invited speakers and visitors from France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey and the Netherlands the event expects additionally visitors from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Japan and Marokko. So far over 100 participants have registered. Gold Sponsors of the IGC 2015 are the EnBW Baden-Württemberg and Transmark Services.
The congress day on March 4th starts with two keynotes, the first by Adonai Herrera-Martínez from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the second by Jens Wirth from the KfW-Bankengruppe. Herrera-Martínez will speak among others about the planned financing of the development of a greenfield 123 megawatt geothermal power plant by the Gurmat Electricity Generation Cooperation in Germencik in the western province of Aydin. This is set to become the second largest geothermal plant in the world when completed. Jens Wirth will present the 760 Million Euro climate initiative to support the development of geothermal energy projects in Latin America.
The keynotes are followed after a break by two parallel discussion forums dealing with exploration and risk mitigation and showing the challenges and the state of the art in the development of high-performance pumps for producing hot water from the wells. In Forum I Umut Destegul Solaroglu from Transmark Services will speak about the challenges in the exploration for geothermal heat in Turkey. Dr. Eva Schill introduces alternative exploration methods in crystalline rocks. Another topic is the application of magnetotelluric methods and for the presentation about new seismic methods by Jan-Diederik van Wees from the TNO is invited. Within the forum about the high-performance pumps the manufacturers will show in short presentations the different models, they can offer for geothermal energy production. In the following discussion they will contribute with their experiences of the last years and speak about the challenges they had to cope with.
After the lunch break with the parallel Speaker’s Corner, where young scientists can show their scientific results close to industrial application, the parallel Forums III and IV will focus on controlling the cost of geothermal wells and on the use of geothermal heat in big cities and industry.
The setting for Forum IV is that deep geothermal energy plays a major role within the Smart City concept. The experiences of Paris since the seventies of the last century is introduced as well as the expansion plans of the SWM Service company for geothermal energy in Munich show Speakers from CFG-Services and SWM Services will show what is already possible in providing geothermal heat for big communities. Moreover the plans of Geneva to use geothermal energy and the interesting industry application of the ECOGI project will show the various possibilites.
However, for realising more geothermal projects the development of the cost for drilling wells is an important issue and discussed in topic of Forum III. Here Daniel Mölk who is working now for Steag will give insights in one of the fastest drilled projects in the Bavarian Molasse Basin, Eric Lasne, Director of CFG-Services will speak about the cost development in the Paris Basin in the last 40 years, and An?l Ayka? from Transmark, will show the advantages of having an own drilling rig for the project development. Waldemar Müller-Ruhe will give the driller’s perspective, and present the possibilities to influence the cost by project development.
The Congress finishes with a highlight: Forum V will show the development of geothermal energy in Turkey, one of the most interesting markets worldwide. Experts with plenty of experience in implementing geothermal projects will give an overview on the development. The presentations will be by Professor Dr. Okan Tüysuz from ?stanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Onur Serin from Atlas Copco, Tevfik Kaya who is now working for Schlumberger and Professor Dr. Füsun Servin Tut Hakl?d?r from ?stanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, who was involved in various projects of Zorlu. The speakers will not only give an overview on the market and the operation of geothermal plants, they will also highlight the geological and technical aspects of the project development in Turkey.
After the Congress the IGC-Lounge in the evening will offer a perfect round up. Here all participants of the congress and the excursion on the next day will be invited to beer and wine to speak informally in a relaxed atmosphere about geothermal energy and all other topcis.
On March 5th, the IGC starts with the Trinational Upper Rhine Forum, facing the developments of geothermal energy on both sides of the Rhine. This forum offers a brilliant opportunity for an update about the activities of ongoing and planned projects and to exchange between French, German and Swiss experts. The Upper Rhine Forum is organised by the trinational energy network TRION-climate, in cooperation with Enerchange.
The topic of this year`s Upper Rhine Forum is public acceptance of geothermal energy projects. The first part is introduced by Alain Jund, Vice-Président of C. U. Strasbourg. He also confirmed his participation as Toni Vetrano, the mayor of Kehl, Bernard Kempf from the ÉS Groupe and Pierre Mammosser, of Soultz-sous-Forêts. One of the highlights will be the presentation of Josef Daldrup, CEO of Daldrup & Söhne, who will speak about the experiences of the project in Landau and the effects for the development of the project in Neuried.
The second part with an overview about the technical challenges and solutions of the technology will be presented by Professor Thomas Kohl from the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Lena Eggeling from the EnBW Baden-Württemberg, Christian Boissavy from the French geothermal association AFPG as well as Achim Fischer-Erdsiek from ProRisk, who will speak about insurance solutions. For the afternoon an excursion is planned to the Geothermal Energy project ECOGI in Rittershoffen. The Forum will be translated simultaneously in French and German. For registered participants the Forum is free of charge.
Parallel to the Upper Rhine Forum the IGC 2015 offers an excursion to the geothermal power plant in Bruchsal.
For details and the program of the conference see the event’s webdsite: www.geothermiekonferenz.de/en where you also can register. Municipal representatives, government officials and students get a 50 % discount on the participant fees.
Participants of the Congress and the excursion get additionally a tow-day-pass for the GeoTHERM 2015 taking place from March 5th to 6th.
