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The approach on micro-geothermal units receives prestigious Bloomberg award

The approach on micro-geothermal units receives prestigious Bloomberg award Climeon CEO & Founder Thomas Öström at the Bloomberg Awards 2018 (source: Climeon)
Alexander Richter 9 Apr 2018

Today, Swedish company Climeon received the Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer Award. In this short interview, the Founder and CEO of Climeon and the company's CRO/ CMO gave an insight into the value of the award for the company and the company's offering to the geothermal market.

With the announcement today, that Swedish technology supplier Climeon has been recognised with the Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer Award in a ceremony in New York, ThinkGeoEnergy wanted to briefly check in with the company’s team on site.

So we had a chance to connect with Thomas Öström CEO and Founder, and Christopher Engman, CRO/ CMO of Climeon.

First of all congratulations for receiving this award. Clearly a great honour. For companies in the geothermal – or as you sell it – heat power (including geothermal and waste heat) sector, the challenge clearly is to be taken seriously against all the other renewable energy technologies out there.

So naturally, to get an award from the big financial news outlet Bloomberg and its renewable energy financing group Bloomberg New Energy Finance is a big thing.

What does this award mean to you, your company and your work so far?

Christopher Engman CRO/CMO: Climeon’s vision is to become the number 1 climate solver worldwide. Our very humble goal. To reach this we have to be true pioneers. Becoming a Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer confirms that we are on the right path and it really makes us very proud. I think it is also a good tap on the shoulder for our great coworkers in the company.

Why do you think Bloomberg selected you?

Thomas Öström CEO: Bloomberg uses three criteria’s. Innovation, total addressable market and already proven momentum. Traditional Heat Power solutions haven’t been good enough at managing many small sites and temperatures below 100 degrees C. Regarding total addressable market low temperature heat exists in bigger volumes and in more places on the planet making it the biggest Heat Power market. Our momentum is really good with a steep acceleration on the sales side. We are in parallel going from single unit production to a Toyota factory. The latter will not happen over night but we have initial great progress. We have recently done our first volume of mass produced units. Just in the last 6 months we have done low temperature geothermal deals in Germany, Iceland, USA and Canada. Canada for example was the first commercial geothermal deal ever in that country.

How does this award help you and your activities?

Christopher Engman CRO/CMO: When you are a fairly young company trust is key. Deliver on your promises, making a product that is stable, having customers that vouch for you but also being recognized by organizations like Bloomberg New Energy Finance with their 300 employees all monitoring the energy markets. We have got recognition in the past from the WWF, Frost and Sullivan etc but being picked by Bloomberg is likely the biggest third party endorsement so far.

You have entered the market quite aggressively stressing the opportunities provided in low-temperature geothermal energy utilisation with your micro-scale plants? How do your power generation units fit into the geothermal energy market?

Thomas Öström CEO: High temperature Geothermal Heat Power exists only around the tectonic plates, often volcanic areas. This is great and wherever you can produce high temperature geothermal heat power you should. Low temperature Geothermal heat power though exist in normal areas and has the potential of being for geothermal what the heat pumps became for residential heating.

With your rather small-size units you can utilise rather low temperatures. Do you think you are tapping into the existing market or do you actually help expand the market for geothermal as a whole with your technology?

Christopher Engman CRO/CMO: 100% adding new market. We can’t compete on high temperature cases but the cases we address are on the other hand too small or too cold for the traditional heat power companies.

You have in the recent months announced sales contracts in Iceland, Germany, USA and Canada. What other markets do you see as interesting markets for Climeon?

Thomas Öström CEO: We are also active around Central and Eastern Europe having our first German case as a good first reference. Eastern Europe has a lot of low temperature near surface resources that should be great for us.

 

We thank Christoph Engman and Thomas Öström for sharing their thoughts in this short interview with us.