IGA Board of Directors Election 2020-2023 starting 30 June 2019

The election for the IGA Board of Directos will start on 30 June 2019 and run until 30 September.

We are proud to announce that following the Board’s decision on ensuring gender balance and equality almost 40% of current candidates are female. Click here to watch a video about nomination process.

You can vote for up to 25 of 50 candidates from 23 countries:

Abraham, SamLi, Kewen
Aguilera, PabloManzella, Adele
Ayling, BridgetMatsuda, Koji
Bignall, GregMatthiasdottir, Kristin Vala
Bjarnason, BjarniMeier, Peter
Blair, AndyMorata, Diego
Brogle, SylvainOlivar, Maria Victoria M.
Brotheridge, JaneOmenda, Peter
Capuano, LouisOyama, Hiroshi
Caranto, Joeffrey A.Prieto, Angela
Casimiro Espinoza, EmigdioRotich, Abel
Chandrasekhar, VarunSabin, Andy
Darma, SuryaSangin, Sepehr
Falcone, GioiaSchmidlee, Virginie
Guglielmetti, LucaSiratovich, Paul
Hajto, MarekSuryantini, Ninik
Harskamp, BobSvalova, Valentina
Hillbrand, GudrunSzita, Gabor
Huenges, ErnstTingshan, Tian
Izquierdo-Montalvo, GeorginaUtami, Pri
Jahrfeld, ThomasVerdoya, Massimo
Jalilinasrabady, SaeidWielenga, Jelle
Kaya, EylemWissing, Lothar
Kiryukhin, AlexeyYasukawa, Kasumi
Letvin, Amelia IdaZemedkun, Meseret

We will share all information with our members to participate soon.

If you are a member of an Affiliated Organization, please contact your coordinator and get your IGA ID (log-in & password) to be able to access the IGA Voting Platform and cast your vote.

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IGA Annual General Meeting – Auckland, New Zealand

We express our thanks to the The University of Auckland and our New Zealand Board Member – Sadiq Zarrouk for inviting the IGA Board to this wonderful country. We are already looking forward to the visit.

If you happen to be in Auckland on 28-29 November 2019 we invite You – Our Member – to come and join us for our Annual General Meeting, which is open to our membership. Meet our Board Members, get involved in the talks and celebrate #lovegeothermal with us.

Prior to the Board Meeting, on 25-27 November 2019, the New Zealand Workshop will take place. Don’t miss your opportunity and register now with big discounts here: https://www.geothermalworkshop.co.nz/

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IGA Board Meeting #70/ Candidates approved for the IGA Board 2020-2023

At the IGA Board Meeting #70 in Budapest, Hungary hosted by the president of the Hungarian Geothermal Association, Mr Gábor Szita, the IGA Board of Directors has reviewed our activities in 2018 resulting in our first annual report, our financial budget for 2019 and the IGA work programme 2019 – 2021. Our financial situation has improved significantly over the past years with our focus on membership growth and the launch of our new corporate membership categories. The Board thanked the clear and effective leadership from the President of the IGA, Alexander Richter, and his executive committee, and is grateful for the new operational headquarter offered by the city of Bonn. The Board is keen to focus the IGA work programme on creating value for the geothermal community by being a platform of choice for the geothermal sector by offering:

  • Up-to-date high-quality data
  • Technology transfer – be the to go to platform for all matters geothermal
  • Connect people and show projects at world-class events
  • Promote UNFC geothermal specification through a global deployment programme
  • Build capacity and raise awareness of geothermal as a key renewable energy technology in the future energy mix

Another highlight is the signoff of 51 candidates to the ballot sheet for IGA BoD term 2020-2023 with a whopping 40% female candidacy (click here to watch a video about nomination process). The election will start on 30 June and will run until 30 September.

This time we had the honour of having Michal Kruszewski with us who presented on the topic of ‘The Developments and Challenges of Deep (High-Temperature) Geothermal Drilling and Well Completion Technology’.

Besides the formal activities during the Board meeting, the Hungarian Association showed their very kind hospitality by offering a splendid social programme including wine tasting (with wines from all over the world brought by IGA board members), music and dancing, a tour through Budapest with dinner on the Danube, and a very nice geothermal site visit to the city of Veresegyház where we were hosted by the mayor who showed us the wells, district heating system and many applications such as the local swimming pool, the music hall and a greenhouse entrepreneur producing michelin star tomatoes.

On behalf of the IGA, we thank IGA Board member Gábor Szita, his wife and all colleagues who were involved in organising the entire visit for being superhosts.

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IGA first Annual Report is out now

It gives you an overview on all our activities and important numbers. Please find the report here: IGA Annual Report 2019

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Geothermal Exploration Book – Sale extended

Dear Geothermal Community,

since we are still receiving many book order requests, we are happy to announce the extension of our Geothermal Exploration Book sale until end of May.
Order the book “Geothermal Exploration – Global Strategies and Applications” now for the special price of only 45 USD. IGA members get additionally 20% off (price: 36 USD)!

Order your book here:
https://www.geothermal-energy.org/education/geothermal-exploration-book/

* price incl. VAT, excl. shipping . This offer is limited until 31.05.2019

Geothermal Exploration introduces the subject of geothermal energy and its development around the world. The text defines a series of ‘geothermal play types’ based on geological setting and then presents strategies and methodologies appropriate for each play type to move a geothermal exploration program to the stage of committing to exploration drilling. These methodologies include permitting, environmental, geology, geochemistry, geophysics and remote sensing techniques used throughout the world for specific play types. The book covers a large number of geoscientific techniques and focuses on their applications to both convective and conductive geothermal systems, with extensive reference to the international literature.
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A tribute to Ladsi Rybach


‘Ladsi Rybach is one of the best known and respected proponents of geothermal energy in the world today. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of the geothermal in Europe and through his efforts at the International Energy Agency and the International Geothermal Association his influence has been felt everywhere’

IEA-GIA Executive Committee, Bali, Indonesia, April 2010

Have you ever met someone and instantly felt that you are in the presence of someone bigger and wiser than you? Well, this is how I felt, when I first met Ladsi. Working at the IGA I’ve heard his name many times, of course. But hearing and ‘experiencing’ are two different things.

Being a true professional and simply a wonderful human being, Ladsi emits sparks of wisdom and tranquillity. Graceful and intelligent and a gentleman as he is, he always acts with poise when interacting with people. And how could it be different, if he is full of passion for what he does. Ladsi is one of the key people standing at the source of the geothermal energy and the IGA. A founding member of the International Geothermal Association, he has served the IGA Board for more than 18 years (which is more than the half of the IGA existence!) having a position of both President and Vice-President and still being active as a Committee member.
Founding members of the IGA, Castelnuovo/Italy, May 1989

His passion for geothermal is hard to overestimate. Trained as a geophysicist, he was a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich and led the research group ‘Geothermics and Radiometry’ for more than 20 years. He has also founded a successful consulting group GEOWATT, which is still present on the market (www.geowatt.com). His achievements list is far too long, but some of his most memorable traces include more than 500 publications, about 100 geothermal conferences attended and special contribution to the high-level reports and papers including IPCC Special Report to mitigate Climate Change (2008), and of course his world-class geothermally-famous concert during WGC 2005.

Oh yes, have I mentioned that he is a professional conductor? For several decades Ladsi was the Musical Director of Orchesterverein Zurich. The special concert during WGC 2005 in Antalya, Turkey was one of his numerous concerts he has conducted in and out of Europe. The musical pieces of W. A. Mozart, J. Brahms and R. Wagner and of Turkish composers became alive under his baton.

Though having a thorny life, especially at the young age, changing countries, being a refugee, this brilliant person embraced it all and what’s more important saved his witty and special sense of humour. ‘Oh listen, I have a funny joke to tell! I remember once…’, – this is what you normally will hear from him. And be prepared to enjoy an amusing story somehow related to the Geothermal Community.

Ladsi’s entry to geothermal started initially in the early 1970s from his engagement in uranium exploration. He got acquainted with the radioactive heat generation of rocks. From there he came to work with heat flow (was active in the International Heat Flow Commission 1975-1987 and 1995-2003) and understood the relevance of this energy source. Now, he is sure that geothermal energy should play a role that corresponds to its great resource potential and when talking about his passion for geothermal, he always says: ‘But it’s down there, everywhere! Just use it for God’s sake!’.

His main interests in geothermal lie in the sphere of ground source heat pumps, sustainability and EGS. Right now, Ladsi is 84 years old, retired (but not tired!) and lives in Switzerland with his wife Ruth and son Manuel (a banker).

What did I want to say with this IGA Special? I believe, it is important to find the time to acknowledge and thank people we meet now and then. Last year, I’ve met an outstanding advocate of geothermal and I would like to thank him on behalf of the IGA and the Global Geothermal Community for bringing geothermal to the forefront of the international stage and reminding us that we still have a long way to go. Thank you, Ladsi.

May the geothermal warmth will heat your heart and home for many years to come.

From IGA with #lovegeothermal,

Margaret
p.p. IGA Team

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Submission of Expressions of Interest (EOI) to Host the WGC 2023

The International Geothermal Association (IGA) seeks Expressions of Interest (EOI) from member organisations who would like to  host the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) in the year 2023. Please download the Invitation for further Information: EOI-WGC2023 (pdf, 2,5 MB)

Please submit your documents (pdf only) until 30 April 2019, 0:00 CET by E-Mail to: wgc2023@lovegeothermal.org.

No registration on our website prior to submission is required.

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Nominations for the IGA Board 2020-2023

Diversity, passion and commitment. Leadership, vision and dedication.

If that sounds like you, join us! Help shape the global geothermal agenda and join the Board of the IGA. Nominations for the IGA Board Term 2020 – 2023 are still open and will run till 16 April 2019. Get the guidelines, get nominated, and run for election.

We want you!

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UNFC Ethiopia

The IGA and its partners World Bank and IRENA with its Global Geothermal Alliance as key partners jointly organised an UNFC Geothermal Specifications workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between 5 and 7 February 2019. The workshop forms part of the UNFC pilot project in which the IGA and partners seek to deploy the UNFC geothermal project classification across the globe. For this we have worked intensively with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, for whose support we are very grateful. In Ethiopia we were hosted by the Government of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Geological Survey. A word of thanks goes to Geothermal Director Dr Solomon Kebede without whom this Workshop would not have taken place. We also express our gratitude to Dr Meseret Teklemariam representing the UNEP and the African Geothermal Centre of Excellence. She is our geothermal ambassador for the region and helped the team setting clear targets and expected outcomes.

The workshop was lead by Prof. Dr. Gioia Falcone, Mr Greg Usher, Mr Rob Hogarth and Mr Harmen Mijnlieff who dedicated their time, energy and passion for Geothermal in Addis Ababa.

We had the pleasure working with 23 participants coming from Ethiopian Geological Survey, Ethiopian Electric Power, Cluff Development Project, and local developers. We have seen 22 potential projects out there waiting to be classified and come to full bankability. In the mean time, the groups have focused on the Aluto project and the first classification results are expected later this month.

After returning we received the fantastic news that KenGen and Shandung Kerui Oilfield Service Group have secured a §76.8 million drilling contract for the 70MW Aluto-Langano project in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has the potential to become a geothermal giant and we are convinced that giant will be awake very soon.

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Granite Green Energy in Cornwall

On February 18 and 19 the IGA Team visited the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project in Red Ruth, Cornwall, UK. The UDDG project is led by Geothermal Energy Limited (GEL). The drilling contractor is a venture of Angers and Sohne and Marriot Drilling. The onsite operation team is led by Peter Ledingham (Managing Director), Lucy Cotton (Chief Geologist), Susy Doe (Communications Officer) and Jon Gutmanis (Operations Geologist).

The visit was organised by Prof. Iain Stewart, University of Plymouth, who kindly hosted the IGA Team first in Plymouth and then took us on site on Tuesday Feb 19th. The UDDG project aims to drill two deep wells into the heat-producing granites located at a permeable geological structure called the Porthtowan Fault Zone. One well will be producing the heat, the other well will be reinjecting the cooler water into the ground in order to be reheated. Expected bottom hole temperatures are to 190 oC and the targeted depth is 4,500m.


Figure 1: Schematic overview of the UDDG Project. In red: production well. In Blue: Reinjection well. (source: United Downs Deep Geothermal Project)

A few words about the funding…

GEL has secured funding of £10.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund to explore the geothermal resources underneath Cornwall. Cornwall Council contributed (£2.4 million) and private investors lend £5 million. The total sum secured the drilling of two deep wells to build a 1-3 MW pilot power plant to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of supplying both electricity and heat.

Visual communication and social acceptance was not forgotten as well…

And then there was Ms Molecule. Ms Molecule – a great invention of the communication team to raise awareness of how the hot water turns to power and is used by communities to power up their homes and mobile phones has been proving worthwhile. School classes, local people, county representatives, they all love Ms Molecule and seem to engage more strongly to the project than ever imagined.

Our personal observation…

It is a team effort to get challenging projects like these going, and it takes strong individuals such as Peter Ledingham and his entire team to continuously strive to make these projects happen on the ground. Granite green energy: we all talk about it, and Cornwall is doing it! Thank you for having us, it was simply fantastic.

What else can we say, we simply #lovegranite

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