3 June 2022 – The winner of the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award 2022 is Baker Hughes with its innovative Corrosion Resistant Podded Electrical Submersible Pump & Completion System. This project, designed and developed by Baker Hughes Artificial Lift Systems and by ECW Geomanagement BV (ECW) has successfully executed an industry-first well completion that allows geothermal production to continue, and the casing to be protected against both localised and general corrosion.
The completion includes an Electrical Submersible Pump deployed on production tubing, pressure sealed within a pod, and set in a custom completion system that also allows for deep corrosion inhibitor injection.
The geothermal brine produced from these wells are used to heat greenhouses to grow produce; a substitute to burning natural gas for heating the greenhouses, which significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the produce. By successfully keeping these geothermal wells in production it allows the greenhouses to minimize their carbon footprint and provides the geothermal operators a well model that can potentially be scaled to grow the market. Past cases have shown that switching from natural gas to geothermal energy reduces carbon emission by 90% in greenhouses within the Netherlands. Specifically, ECW reports that by using geothermal instead of natural gas, 110,000 tonnes (or 110,000,000 kg) of CO2 emissions are mitigated per year.
Miklos Antics, President of the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) and member of the jury, said “This is an important progress towards unlocking the geothermal decade as it will lead to production costs optimisation, sustainable operation and last but not least significant improvement of efficiency and plant availability.”
After two years of online events, the award has been handed out physically at GEOTHERM Expo & Congress in Offenburg. This year the event took place on 2nd June.
As every year, the competition was very high-level. The finalists included: Celsius Energy (France) with the project Celsius Energy System, Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems IEG (Germany), with the project Energy concept for geothermal cooling and heating.; Izmir Institute of Technology (Turkey) with the project Capture and using CO2 as an inhibitor in geothermal power plant.; Perryman Technologies Research (France) with the project Geothermal Lithium Extraction.
The jury for 2022 was composed of Miklos Antics (France, representing EGEC), Inga Berre (Norway, research expert), Sandra Kircher (Germany, representing Messe Offenburg), Fausto Batini (Italy, representing ETIP-DG, industry expert), and Javier Urchueguia (Spain, representing RHC-ETIP geothermal panel).
The Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award is an initiative of EGEC, the European Geothermal Energy Council, in collaboration with Messe Offenburg, organisers of the GeoTHERM Fair and Congress. It is given to companies which have made an outstanding contribution towards the field of geothermal energy in the form of innovative products, scientific research and project initiatives.
*END*
Contact:
Consuelo Serrano / Communications Officer / c.serrano@egec.org
ABOUT EGEC – EUROPEAN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY COUNCIL
The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) is a not-for-profit organisation promoting all aspects of the geothermal industry. It was founded in 1998 to facilitate awareness and expansion of geothermal applications in Europe and worldwide by shaping policy, improving investment conditions and steering research.
Over 120 members from 28 countries, including developers, equipment manufacturers, electricity providers, national associations, consultants, research centres, geological surveys, and public authorities gives EGEC the ability to represent the entire geothermal sector.
EGEC is listed in the European Transparency Register No. 11458103335-07 For more information visit www.egec.org
BE SOCIAL & SHARE