During the opening ceremony of the GeoTHERM Exhibition and Congress 2019, the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award 2019 was awarded to the Swiss company Jansen AG, for their Jansen HIPRESS borehole heat exchanger, a novel technology for applications in depths of 300+ meters, that allows the exploitation of high temperatures at greater depths improving, at the same time, the efficiency of the heat pump.
“Geothermal heat pumps are already one of the most efficient renewable technologies for heating and cooling and innovations such as this year’s winner show that it’s a technology ready to make even further leaps. The supply side for geothermal heating and cooling is finally getting more attention at European level and continuous improvements and expansion in applications are what we need for an efficient decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector,” said Philippe Dumas, Secretary General of EGEC. “The geothermal market is ready. In 2018, it has crossed important thresholds: more than 300 geothermal district heating plants and 3GWe of installed geothermal electricity capacity.”
“We are very pleased that we have been able to contribute to the further development of the geothermal industry with our many innovations in recent years. Jansen is honoured and grateful to receive recognition by the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award and the responsible experts. The JANSEN hipress technology is currently the world’s strongest series-produced geothermal probe, includes absolute diffusion resistance, offers the lowest hydraulic resistance for the circulating pump and at the same time takes an economical, safe, and simple installation into account. It will further facilitate the use of the abundantly available underground energy, which we consider to be one of the key objectives for securing both the future heat supply as well as for protecting our environment for ourselves and our children,” concludes Dietmar Alge, head of the geothermal systems division at Jansen, Switzerland.
As every year, the competition was particularly high-level. The finalists included: CLIMEON (Sweden), which developed a small HeatPower module of 2x2x2 m and 150 kW to produce electricity from low temperature geothermal resources (80–130°C); GEOFLUID (France), for their anti-corrosion well concept implemented at the district heating grid of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, France; GPC IP (France), for the validation of the sub-horizontal doublet and reservoir evaluation concept at the district heating system in Cachan, Paris; and TURBODEN (Italy), for the first 5 stages large axial ORC turbine, as installed on the Velika Ciglena geothermal power plant, Croatia.
The jury for 2019 was composed of Attila Kujbus (Hungary, representing EGEC), Adele Manzella (Italy, research expert), Sandra Kircher (Germany, representing Messe Offenburg), Bruno Leray (France, representing ETIP-DG, industry expert), and Javier Urchueguia (Spain, representing RHC-ETIP geothermal panel. The Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award is an initiative from 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 or project initiatives.
In 2019, the award has been renamed in memory of Ruggero Bertani, who passed away in June 2018 at the age of 62. A world’s leading expert on geothermal power production, Ruggero Bertani was President of EGEC since 2016.
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