CROWDTHERMAL meeting, 15-17 September, online

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From the 15th to the 17th September 2020, the CROWDTHERMAL consortium held three successive meetings to prepare the start of the second year of the project. These meetings were successively a General Assembly (15th September), the Advisory Board meeting (16th September) and finally the 3rd Consortium meeting (17th September). The CROWDTHERMAL project aims to empower the European public to directly participate in the development of geothermal projects with the help of alternative financing schemes (crowdfunding) and social engagement tools.

During the General Assembly, the CROWDTHERMAL consortium discussed the progress made during the first year of the project and each partner presented the summary of the work performed in its respective tasks. In the first year of the project, La Palma Research Centre had a dual role in the project. First and foremost, it was part of the Communication and Dissemination Work Package together with the European Federation of Geologists. LPRC led the communication strategy on social media including two successful campaigns: the first showcasing the presentation video of the project on YouTube, while the second highlighted the best practises regarding alternative funding schemes for energy projects across Europe. Second, LPRC led the preparations for CROWDTHERMAL Work Package 4 “Integrated Deployment schemes“ starting November 2020. This Work Package aims at creating a social-media powered platform that will support the deployment of integrated development schemes for geothermal energy utilising alternative finance and community engagement tools. With regards to this Work Package, LPRC started the work on the CROWDTHERMAL sustainability plans that are aimed to facilitate the efficient market uptake of results and the sustainability of the project after the EC-funded period.

For the Advisory Board meeting, a group of experts discussed the findings and issues encountered around the project. The main topic of discussion was centred around the social acceptance of geothermal energy. Based on empirical data provided by the project on geothermal energy around Europe (WP 1, Addressing the bottlenecks of public engagement for community-based geothermal development) and regarding the place of participative finance to geothermal projects (WP 2, Community-based geothermal energy financing principles and WP3, Auxiliary and alternative pathways to risk mitigation), it became apparent that CROWDTHERMAL has indeed the unique opportunity to raise awareness about the potential of geothermal energy for climate change mitigation and to enhance citizen empowerment in energy at the same time. To that end, the project will focus more on educating the public on the advantages of geothermal energy and on the opportunity given to any investor by diverse participative financing schemes.

During the 3rd Consortium meeting, all the partners deliberated on the upcoming actions to be taken in the second year of the project. For this year, LPRC will continue to lead dissemination on social media and increase the volume of campaigns and will also lead the development of the project deployment schemes. The aim is to connect the new approaches brought forward by CROWDTHERMAL with conventional financing, public engagement and risk mitigation schemes and launch a new European mobilisation campaign with the help of social media as well as with the help of targeted conferences, workshops and by mobilising EFG Third Parties and the Altfinator Network (CFH).

Learn more about CROWDTHERMAL on the project´s website (https://www.crowdthermalproject.eu/) and follow the project´s daily activities on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram) @CROWDTHERMAL_EU.

UNEXUP presented at the virtual Mineral Exploration Symposium 2020

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The 2020 edition of the Mineral Exploration Symposium was a two-day virtual event (17-18 September) organized by the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE). Despite the fact that it had to be held online, it was still a great opportunity for many researchers and members of the mining industry to present and discuss the current state of projects and initiatives that intend to address a continuous supply of critical raw materials to the EU.

The first day started with an introductory section, lead by members of the European Commission. One of the speakers – Gerardo Herrera (DG Grow) – mentioned the UNEXMIN project, in which LPRC was an active partner, during his talk on “Introduction to the EU challenges on mineral exploration and its importance for the society”.

The following sessions covered EU-funded projects related to raw materials exploration methods, technologies and innovation in the sector, which is a crucial step towards the achievement of the ambitious climate goals set by the EU Green Deal. The technologies involved in the clean energy transition (e.g. electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels and others) will require a substantial amount of critical raw materials, which translates to an increase in mining activities and new exploration methods in the EU.

LPRC member Márcio Tameirão represented the UNEXUP project under Session 3: European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Raw Materials, by presenting the context, history, and current state of the activities towards the improvement and commercialization of the UX-based robotic technology.

The event counted with a maximum of 200 attendees, from all over the world, who could learn more and ask questions about the current state of the many ongoing EU-funded raw materials projects.

MOBI-US e-Workshop, 7-8 September, online

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On 7-8 September the MOBI-US project completed an important step: the Matchmaking Workshop. This event had the purpose of making the networking partners and MSc program leaders to meet (online) and discuss potential partnerships that will result in mobility pathways between these institutions after MOBI-US is concluded in July 2021. This event had to be split in two parts due to the COVID situation: the first was held in June 2020, while the second and last one was completed early this week.

LPRC had two representatives – Luís Lopes and Márcio Tameirão – who were responsible for the development of the “Matchmaking Workshop Guide”, the document that compiles the agenda, online platform, materials, preparatory activities, homework for the partners, as well as the partner finding exercises that were performed in the event. Despite the challenge of adapting the partner finding exercises to an online mode, the activities allowed the MSc program leaders to understand each other’s weaknesses and strengths, and find potential partners to further discuss the feasibility and logistics to set up the mobility pathways, which was the main goal of the workshop.

During the event, LPRC, as a Mentoring partner, provided input on the discussions whenever needed, and helped the program leaders to perform the exercises smoothly by answering questions and monitoring the dynamic of the activities. This support will continue in the upcoming months of MOBI-US, since the potential networking partners will continue to work on the details to establish the mobilities.

LPRC is the leader of the Communication and Dissemination work package in MOBI-US. For the team the next steps include raising awareness about the next event – Industry Workshop – and mentoring the networking partners during the above-mentioned “homework”.

The International Workshop with Invited Women Experts for ENGIE

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On 4 September 2020, the ENGIE project organised the online International Workshop with Invited Women Experts. The main objective of the workshop was to identify the motivators and barriers for empowering young women to become geoscientists and engineers. For this purpose, eighteen successful women in the field of geoscience and geo-engineering were invited to participate in the forum, including women for many countries in Europe. LPRC women members also participated and helped to make this event a reality!

More information can be obtained on the press release.

ENGIE e-Consortium meeting, 2-4 September

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The ENGIE Consortium led by the University of Miskolc organized a three day event encompassing the second Consortium Meeting, a Workshop for the project’s Linked Third Parties and a Workshop for Expert Women in Geosciences to share their experiences in the field. In representation of LPRC, Isabel Pino, Ariadna Ortega and Adrienn Cseko presented ENGIE’s Task 2.1. This task aims to organize actions under the umbrella of the European Researchers’ Night with the objective of making girls interested in geosciences and presenting the variety of careers that the geosciences offer to the general public.

On the first day, partners introduced the status of their respective Work Packages, including the “Guidelines for the LTPs Work” in Task 2.1 and the planning for Researchers Night 2021 and 2022 presented by LPRC. The last session of the day focused on the following workshops and future tasks of the project.

On the second day the Linked Third Parties Orientation Workshop was organised in order to plan all the activities that would require the participation of the over 20 Linked Third Parties of the European Federation of Geologists. Isabel Pino presented the task LPRC is responsible for, “Researchers Night – Geoscience Theme”, in which an activity performed by EFG’s Linked Third Parties throughout Europe is to be organized during the European Researchers Night. Said activity will focus on the role of women in geosciences inline with ENGIE’s goals.

On the last day, an International Workshop with Expert Women Geologists was created as a space for discussion and exchange of impressions and experiences creating bridges amongst all the different specializations within geology and gathering information on how to better attract girls to geosciences.

The ENGIE project is funded by the EIT Raw Materials programme and aims to turn the interest of girls to study geosciences and geo-engineering, and thus to improve the gender balance in the fields of these disciplines. The project will develop an awareness-raising strategy and create a stakeholder collaboration network for the implementation of a set of actions in more than 20 EU countries.

ROBOMINERS e-Consortium meeting, 7th September 2020

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The ROBOMINERS consortium, where LPRC participates and leads one Work Package – based on the application of foresight studies -, got together in an online way to discuss relevant aspects of this innovative project on the 7th of September.

For the purpose of this meeting, LPRC was responsible to present the status of WP8 – Active clustering and roadmapping. Until now, the team has been working towards clustering with other projects and initiatives with the aim to share knowledge on robotics and raw materials topics alike. After the WP status introductions, LPRC also prepared and hosted a Focus Group exercise with some of the project partners where relevant ROBOMINERS topics were explored and discussed.

The Focus Group exercise ran in a very standard way: the moderator – Luís Lopes – asked the pre-defined questions and each participant was requested to give their own opinions and answers. The exercise run in a way that a series of thoughts from real experts was collected.

Following the results of the exercise and the discussions held, LPRC will now compile and analyse the data collected and proceed with the implementation of this specific task.

 

LPRC presents projects during the online “GeoUtrecht 2020” event

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On the 25th of August, LPRC members Luís Lopes and Márcio Tameirão had the opportunity to show two very innovative raw materials projects to the EU community during GeoUtrecht 2020 – this year online due to the current restrictions on travel. The selected projects were ROBOMINERS and UNEXUP.

The ROBOMINERS and UNEXUP presentations were included within the session “Raw Materials and their societal relevance for Europe” pinpointing what these two EU-funded projects are doing and what is their connection to the European society. The presentations raised interest from the audience which was translated into a few pertinent questions on the implementation of both innovative technologies with the vision to help with the sustainable sourcing of raw materials in Europe.

UNEXUP 1st Progress meeting, online

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On Thursday and Friday (23 and 24 July) the UNEXUP consortium met online for the First Progress Meeting. In UNEXUP, LPRC leads the communication and dissemination efforts. Balazs Bodo, Adrienn Cseko, Luís Lopes and Márcio Tameirão participated in the e-meeting from the company’s side.

On the first day work package leaders presented their current work status and next steps for 2020 and later, while the second day was dedicated to further discussions about the plan of actions for the future. In this opportunity, Márcio Tameirão represented LPRC as the leader of Work Package 4 – Communication, dissemination and outreach with a presentation that covered the past and current dissemination efforts, as well as the future activities in order to promote the UNEXUP technology towards the key stakeholders, and to generate market interest through the UNEXUP website, social media channels, publications, brochures, events and other outreach materials.

WP4 presentation was made by Márcio Tameirão

One of the main topics of the presentation was the ongoing “Call for Pilots” campaign on social media, whose purpose is to attract potential pilot sites where the UNEXUP technology can conduct real-life surveying missions under a real service-to-client approach. In addition, to demonstrate the robots’ capabilities to produce valuable geoscientific data from these sites, and to further calibrate and develop the technology based on the outcomes of the pilots.

LPRC leads the three tasks of WP4: 4.1 – Communication and dissemination management; 4.2 –  Outreach support toolkit; and 4.3 – Increasing market interest. In addition, it is the leader of the related Task 0.4 – Customer relations, under WP0 (Market strategy and business development portfolio), besides horizontal support in order Work Packages’ activities.

A total of eight institutions participated in the e-meeting

The EU green deal: a new energy and climate policy framework for a Geothermal decade?

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On 10 July 2020, EGEC hosted an IGN online meeting on geothermal energy’s place in the new EU Green Deal Framework. The discussion was mainly centered around the idea that the new decade will be a Geothermal Decade. To back up this claim, Philip Dumas (EGEC’s Secretary) first exposed the growing relevance of geothermal in the current EU energy market. The push toward climate neutrality by 2050 together with an increasing number of renewable energy sources will call for smart management of the energy load and baseload energy to ensure constant levels of electricity throughout the day while fluctuating energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar can rapidly respond to a spike or a decrease in energy demand. According to experts, geothermal energy can serve as baseload energy sources as its energy output is constant throughout the day and available 24/7. In addition, geothermal energy can provide both heating and cooling which represent 64.4% of the energy consumption of an average EU household.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has showcased the urgent need for green recovery in Europe and beyond. As such, Phillipe Dumas exposed several current and forthcoming EU funding schemes that will be suited for Geothermal Energy (exploration, drilling and operation) together with EU initiatives for green development as part of both the Green Recovery and the surrounding European Green Deal.

  • Clean Energy for EU Islands: The Clean Energy for EU Islands Secretariat is an initiative on behalf of the European Commission aimed at catalysing the clean energy transition on EU Islands. European islands often face significant challenges when it comes to energy supply and energy costs. Due to geographic location, small economies of scale, and limited or absent interconnection to the mainland or to other islands, many islands are still heavily dependent upon costly imported fossil fuels to generate electricity or to meet their heating and cooling needs. Unlike other intermittent energy sources, geothermal energy could provide a stable, sustainable, and affordable energy supply for a wide variety of potential uses that are not restricted to electricity generation but encompass many types of direct uses.
  • Coal Region Transition under the framework of the Just Transition: Geothermal energy is in many ways similar to conventional extractive industries such as mining for minerals. It requires extensive understanding of geological formations to identify possible production sites. The equipment and know-how for developing a geothermal production closely resembles those for conventional drilling. Geothermal projects are not comparable to mining jobs, which are steady on the same site for decades, but a thorough industrial strategy to promote geothermal heat and power production can contribute to the solution with the development of many smaller projects over long periods in a same region, and ad-hoc industries like tourism, agro-industry, and balneology. By contributing to reducing energy poverty and improving quality of life: coal regions tend to be characterized by a high prevalence of energy poverty due to low building quality and low income for a large swath of the population. By replacing coal for home heating, and with no air-emissions, geothermal is a solution for improving air quality in cities.
  • Just Transition Fund: The European Union is committed in becoming  the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. This requires significant investment from both the EU and the national public sector, as well as the private sector. The European Green Deal’s Investment Plan – the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan – will mobilise public investment and help to unlock private funds through EU financial instruments, notably InvestEU, which would lead to at least €1 trillion of investments.
  • The Innovation Fund: an European Financing programme that stems from the EU ETS, which aims to invest part of the revenues from the European carbon trading scheme to the development of innovative clean energy technologies. The Innovation Fund does not restrict any innovative first-of-a-kind technology, provided its demonstration leads to material avoidance of GHG emissions, it has the potential for widespread application or to significantly lower the costs of transitioning towards a low-carbon economy in the covered sectors.

LPRC joins the “In the Black 2020” online event

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LPRC members Márcio Tameirão and Luís Lopes took part at the “In the Black 2020” online conference, representing the UNEXUP project. This short e-meeting was held on the 2nd July and was organized by INESC TEC (a team that collaborates with LPRC frequently). From the UNEXUP side, a talk on the project’s developments and objectives was given by the project coordinator.

The event, subtitled “The Safety of People and the Planet through the Application of Technology” envisaged to bring together projects and companies that are raising standards in the Health and Safety aspects of the mining value chain through innovations – such is the case of the UNEXUP project, where LPRC has the important role of Communication and Dissemination of activities and results.