Find out Europe’s six most innovative geothermal projects of 2020

In Spring 2021 EGEC will announce the final winner among the six endorsed nominations for the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award 2021.

The six finalists are (in alphabetical order):

• AIMEN Technology Center (Spain). Their innovation is a novel electrochemical-based sensor designed to monitor corrosion in wells and pipes in real-time, without the need of inspection.
• ENGIE Solutions / Antea Group (France). They propose an innovative multi-drain design of a borehole, which allows to cross multiple times a geothermal reservoir, significantly increasing its productivity.
• EuGeli (France). This project, carried out by Eramet, provides lithium extracted from geothermal brines located in the French/German Upper Rhine Graben.
• Hunosa (Spain). Their project turned closed coal mines into a geothermal district heating, using the water of the old coal collieries as a renewable resource.
• MegaWatt Solutions Nordic AB (Sweden). They developed an integrated heat pump solution (the E-Box), which is equipped with a SCADA system featuring numerous control features that monitor the energy performance of the entire system.
• ON Power (Iceland). Their eco-industrial Geothermal Park uses the energy supply in excess from the Hellisheidi geothermal plant for a small-scale hydrogen production unit and a carbon capture plant.

“With those 6 project proposals, the finalists demonstrate originality, innovation, and reliability. The high-quality of the more than 15 applications received makes for a challenging competition, showing that the geothermal sector is brimming with unceasing innovation. This award is a great opportunity to promote ingenious projects, and we are honoured to receive so many good and innovative projects every year’’, said Philippe Dumas, EGEC Secretary-General.

The Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award is an initiative of EGEC, the European Geothermal Energy Council, in collaboration with Messe Offenburg, organiser of the GeoTHERM congress. The Award is given to companies which have made an outstanding contribution in the geothermal sector in the form of innovative products, scientific research or project initiatives.

The jury for 2021 is composed of Miklos Antics (France, representing EGEC), Inga Berre (Norway, Professor at University of Bergen), Sandra Kircher (Germany, representing Messe Offenburg), Fausto Batini (Italy, Magma Energy, ETIP-DG President), and Javier Urchueguia (Spain, representing RHC-ETIP geothermal panel).

The Jury will now select the winner, which will be announced in spring 2021.

Stay tuned to know more about the six finalists in the coming days.