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CRM-geothermal 3rd General Assembly, 3-5 July 2024, Munich, Germany

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La Palma Research Centre joined the CRM-geothermal partners in the most recent project General Assembly, hosted by GFZ Postdam in Munich, Germany, between the 3 and 5 July. Project partners presented the progress achieved over the past year, across all Work Packages.

The first day was dedicated to presentation of Work Package (WP) 1: Screening and mapping of CRM content in geothermal settings, WP2: Geological controls of CRM mobility, source and long-term sustainability in different geothermal settings and WP6: Dissemination, communication and exploitation. LPRC contributed to the presentations under WP6 on Communication and Dissemination. As the leader of the clustering task, aimed at identifying common topics and challenges with other European initiatives related to the project, LPRC introduced the task concept, highlighted past activities, and outlined future networking opportunities through events and conferences focused on raw materials and geothermal energy. Additionally, with the engagement of other partners, potential joint activities were identified and evaluated.

On the second day of meetings, LPRC led presentations on the Market Deployment task. This task focuses on bridging the technology used in CRM-geothermal with the market. It is a complex task that involves technological issues, political settings, environmental concerns, and social aspects of combined CRM and geothermal energy extraction. As the task is just beginning, the presentation involved discussing strategies and target audiences to build solid business plans and a market deployment strategy with all partners. This task is part of WP4: Deployment of the combined extraction of CRM and energy from geothermal fluids. Other WPs included 3: Development and optimisation of extraction technologies for CRM from geothermal brines and 5: Testing, validation, integration (of design requirements, systems and components).

The last was dedicated to a field trip to a geothermal plant in Laufzorn.

 

EFG

LPRC participation at the CROWDTHERMAL Final Conference, Berlin, October 2022

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On 19 and 20 October 2022 the CROWDTHERMAL project held its final events in Berlin – Germany, with the participation of consortium partners in person and online. The purpose of the event was to review the progress of the work packages, future tasks, as well as administration and financial issues to be completed before the official closure: December 2022.

On the first day, 19th November 2022, the consortium held an internal meeting at IZES facilities, in which LPRC (represented by Márcio Tameirão) introduced the current state of the CROWDTHERMAL Core Services – followed by discussions and comments on how to improve them – the Core Services were developed by LPRC. The next day was dedicated to the Final Conference of the CROWDTHERMAL project, as a joint event with COST DHC: ‘’First Geothermal District Heating and Cooling Day event’’. In this opportunity, LPRC introduced the Core Services to the wider audience that attended the event, with an overview of the 7 tools that are currently available on the project website to help project developers, communities and local authorities to implement geothermal projects in Europe.

The CROWDTHERMAL consortium during the Berlin meeting

The next two months, up to the project final day, will be dedicated to addressing comments and implementing the necessary changes in CROWDTHERMAL tools to further improve the user’s experience and added value in their projects.

EFG

CRM-Geothermal Kick-off meeting, Potsdam, July 2022

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CRM-geothermal recently started and LPRC is part of it. The kick-off meeting was held in July – in hybrid mode. On the 13th and 14th the project partners met in Potsdam, Germany, as well as online, to start the high-level discussions involved in CRM-geothermal Work Packages and their respective technological aspects. CRM-geothermal will open up a potentially huge untapped resource and deploy solutions to help Europe fulfil the strategic objectives of the EU Green Deal and the Agenda for Sustainable Development by combining the extraction of heat and minerals from geothermal wells.

In this context, LPRC (portrayed by Marcio Tameirão) was present at the event to talk about what is planned to be performed in the next four years, as well as the expected results and collaboration from the consortium partners. La Palma Research Centre is the leader of two tasks:

Task 4.4 – Market Deployment. This task is from Work Package 4 – Deployment of the combined extraction of CRM and energy from geothermal fluids, led by INTRAW. The objective is to develop a roadmap for the potential upscaling and commercialization of the technology involved in the extraction of CRM (Critical Raw Materials) from the brine in geothermal wells.

Task 6.6 – Clustering. This task is from Work Package 6 – Dissemination, communication and exploitation, led by EFG. The objective is to foster connections with communities working on similar topics and challenges; create long-term research collaborations and scientific investigations; increase project visibility; and contribute to the exploitation potential of results.

The event was a great opportunity for the consortium partners to meet in person and get to know each other, which naturally improves the conditions to collaborate in the upcoming years.

Follow the project on the website and social media for more information!

EMPORIA4KT

LPRC in Madrid, for CROWDTHERMAL meetings

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From 6 to 8 April 2022 the CROWDTHERMAL partners were together in Madrid, Spain, as well as virtually. The three days of intense work had the purpose of discussing and updating the work accomplished within each of the Work Packages; to collect input from the Advisory Board regarding future steps; and to conduct the 1st CROWDTHERMAL International Conference. In this opportunity, the Work Package leaders presented their work, followed by questions and an open discussion about specific topics to be prioritized in the upcoming weeks and months.

LPRC (represented by Márcio Tameirão) showcased the current work of integration and deployment of the CROWDTHERMAL Core Services as webtools on the website, to be used by community investors, geothermal project developers, and local authorities. These tools intend to educate the target audiences about several topics around CROWDTHERMAL, such as geothermal energy, alternative finance, social aspects, and financial risk mitigation.

  • 6 April: The first day of the program consisted of an internal consortium meeting, in which LPRC presented the current state of the Core Services as webtools to collect feedback and suggestions for improvement. In addition, there were discussions about the sustainability of the projects results beyond the EC-funded period – also led by LPRC and CrowdfundingHub.

    Internal consortium meeting

  • 7 April: In the next day the 1st CROWDTHERMAL International Conference was held, which counted with more than 140 online participants. In the last block of the event, Márcio (LPRC) presented the preview of how the webtools can add value to the target audiences, e.g., community investors, geothermal project developers, and the local authorities.

    1st CROWDTHERMAL International Conference

  • 8 April: The last and final day of meetings was a great opportunity to discuss these updates with the Advisory Board of the project – experts in geothermal energy who provided valuable input and improvement points to be implemented in the next weeks.

    Meeting with the Advisory Board

The presentations and discussions in Madrid – and for the participants online – resulted in important feedback and discussions to improve not only the CROWDTHERMAL Core Services, related to Work Package 4 led by LPRC, but all aspects of the project in the upcoming months.

CROWDTHERMAL will end towards this year, so a lot of developments are coming in the next months. Keep updated with the project on its website and social media channels.

LPRC participation at CROWDTHERMAL meetings in the Netherlands

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Between the  6th and 8th of October 2021 the CROWDTHERMAL consortium met physically in Utrecht, the Netherlands, for the first time since the kick-off meeting of the project.

The three-day meeting was divided in different sections:

  • CROWDTHERMAL technical session with community funding
  • CROWDTHERMAL 9th Consortium meeting
  • CROWDTHERMAL 2th General Assembly
  • Advisory board workshop: international conference on new financial mechanisms for geothermal energy (risk mitigation, social, financial)

In this opportunity, Balazs Bodo and Márcio Tameirão represented LPRC to share with the participants the work completed in the 2nd year of the project, as well as the work plan for the 3rd and final year of CROWDTHERMAL. Balazs Bodo led the talk on the sustainability plan of the project (Work Package 7), to structure the continuation of CROWDTHERMAL services beyond the EC-funded period. Márcio Tameirão provided presentations on the deployment of the project´s core services (Work Package 4), as well as the development of the deliverable related to the FAQ tool that will be available on CROWDTHERMAL website. In addition, Márcio also introduced the work that LPRC is doing on CROWDTHERMAL social media channels, as part of the dissemination work package (WP6) led by EFG.

After fruitful discussions among the consortium and the Advisory Board thorough the three days of the event, the CROWDTHERMAL team have resources to further align the strategy for the upcoming tasks towards the final year of the project.

Follow CROWDTHERMAL on the website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

LPRC joins the Baseload Capital Online Seminar #3: Geothermal and Risks (part 2)

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Drilling risks

The key to the economies of scale in geothermal is to reduce uncertainty whilst drilling linked to poorly known geology. On average, 66% of deep geothermal drillings are successful. This low rate can be explained by the uncertainty of geothermal drilling. A profitable geothermal field, on paper, may not translate to real profitable margins. There is a risk that the well fails on the first heat up or that there is a delayed failure due to the formation environment like the presence of corrosive fluids. When a failure occurs, the loss of production and cost of repair can be quite significant compared with the cost of completing the well. Current technologies offer two solutions to drilling risks:  horizontal wells and drilling deeper:

  1. Horizontal wells do not rely on a limited amount of energy stored within the direct vicinity of a vertical well. A horizontal well can be drilled for thousands of meters in the ideal reservoir alleviating the risk of a colder spot and thus reducing the risks of an unproductive well.
  2. The other solution is to drill deeper in basement rock. This method aims at using hot dry rock at depth to produce heat. At high depth (more than 5000m), the rock layers become more consistent thus creating more certainty whilst drilling. In addition, deeper wells tap into warmer rocks thus producing high temperature for a more profitable process.

NIMBY (not in my backyard): stories from the field

Even if economically sound, a geothermal project can be cancelled if local communities oppose it. In Taiwan, Baseload Capital faced a challenge: Initially favorable to geothermal energy, local turned against the project when they witness the noise, dust and smell caused by the drillings. The problem lied in miscommunication between the company in the communities. Communities had a lack of knowledge vis-à-vis geothermal power, in addition they were afraid that the power plant would bring harm such as water depletion and pollution. Given the relative remoteness of the local communities, there was also a distrust of a company they had never seen before.

Although these problematics can seem futile to people with deep understanding in geothermal, it is necessary to take a step back and listen to these divergent opinions. Without this, a project can very quickly create massive backlash and even be cancelled. Based on this, a geothermal project shall generally follow the following steps when dealing with local communities:

  1. Become trustworthy: Outline clearly the how the project will work at meetings with locals. Never take anything for granted and act on your promises.
  2. Be respectful of local communities by being present when they have questions, arranged face-to-face meetings, listen to their concerns, learn about the local cultures and respect local habits.
  3. Be transparent. Being transparent is vital to earn trust. This can be performed by hosting local hearing to understand complains and misconceptions. These meetings should always be about dialogue and never be one-sided. It is also important to show progress and discuss future plans.
  4. Get involved in the local community be celebrating events with them. Geothermal should have a strong community focus in its operation (using hot water for local businesses and ensuring that the plant will create jobs locally. Any geothermal project shall participate to the local economy and be an active member of the society.

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic showed how quickly the market can adapt to new needs. Within a year time, millions of masks, PPE and vaccines have been produced to respond to a disease that can affect us all. Climate affect us all too. The real risk of climate action, the one we are all confronted is inaction. Inaction in the climate transition will threaten biodiversity, as habitats and lives become endangered. We need to act, and we need to act fast.

Geothermal energy involves taking risks. However, as shown in this article these risks can be alleviated if projects are managed in a transparent and responsible manner. The battle will be won or loss in the next decade. If we fail to transition to a sustainable global economy, it is estimated that global GDP will plumet by 11%. However, if we succeed it will rise by 4%, showcasing a bright light at the end of a challenging time.

LPRC joins the Baseload Capital Online Seminar #3: Geothermal and Risks (part 1)

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On the 3rd June 2021, Baseload Capital (Swedish investment bank specialised in sustainable energy) hosted its 3rd online seminar session of the year, this time on risks within the geothermal industry. Specifically, the day’s session tackled risks across various inter-linked topics: environmental risks, drilling and social acceptance.

Environmental risks

Environmental risks although real can be either overrated or underrated based on preconceptions or past assessment which do not hold in the current state-of-the art. The first environmental risk assessed was the one linked to CO2 in geothermal: whilst green and sustainable, geothermal power plants may emit CO2. The reason for the leakage of these quantities of gases emitted from geothermal power plants aren’t due to power production because there’s no combustion. These gases are naturally present in the rock basement, minor constituents of most geothermal reservoirs. The importance of this risk varies greatly from one region of the globe to the other as well as the technology involved. Furthermore, naturally emitted CO2 is poorly regulated worldwide despite available CO2 leakage solutions exist such as binary plants (see figure below). The trend in the industry is to reach carbon neutrality thanks to binary geothermal power plants that have basically zero CO2 emissions during the production process. On a positive note, the average non-binary geothermal power plant releases between 100 and 120 grams of CO2/KWh whereas fossil fuel plants release between 1000 and 1500 grams of CO2/KWh.

The second type of environmental risk boils down to thermal well stimulation and induced seismicity. The scientific consensus around thermal well stimulation is that this is nowadays an overrated risk. It is a quick and effective way of injecting cold water into a hot geothermal well which leads to contraction of fractures and allows the permeability to be recognised. Most deep geothermal wells make use of that methods to great effect with minimal risk. Other well stimulation methods involve acid stimulation (either hydrofluoric or hydrochloric acid) of a reservoir and have to be handle with great care. Although suffering from a bad reputation, this acid gets neutralised in the basic environment of the reservoir (calcite veins and fractures) rendering it harmless whilst improving the productivity of the well. The other more dangerous aspect of situation is induced seismicity or fracking. This risk has to be taken with the most care and has the snowball effect of introducing fear in population leading to less geothermal project, thus less green development.

Figure: Geothermal plant scheme

Environmental evaluation of a Geothermal Power Plant in the Southern German Molasse Basin by a Life Cycle Analysis

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On the 26th March 2021, ENERCHANGE and ThinkGeoEnergy hosted a new episode of their recurring Focus on Geothermal – Energy for the Weekend event this time focused on Life Cycle Assessment of Geothermal Energy to raise public acceptance based on a German Case Study.

Geothermal Energy and social acceptance

The webinar highlighted the competitive disadvantage of geothermal energy compared to other energy sources due to public opinion. Despite of its green potential and output advantages (baseload capacity, long lifetime of operation and wide accessibility), geothermal is often perceived a harmful energy source by general public.

According to the present case study and similar past conclusion of experts, the roots of poor social acceptance performances of geothermal energy lie in poor communication of geothermal green capacities compared to other energy sources both fossil and green. The German team hosting the event suggested that a clear demonstration of the green output of geothermal energy could outweigh negative initial views on the technology. In addition, the team believes that a strict environmental monitoring of geothermal power plants is necessary to showcase transparency, accountability and good faith of geothermal developers. To that end, the team proposed that geothermal projects shall establish a thorough Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of their operations from exploration to decommission to monitor CO2 emissions and take measures if levels are abnormally high.

Life Cycle Assessment for geothermal projects

A Life cycle assessment is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life, spanning from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, and use.

Possible considerations of a Life Cycle Assessment for Geothermal plants.

Based on this new operational framework for a Life Cycle Assessment in geothermal, 3 steps have to be taken into account when assessing geothermal power plants:

  • Drilling geothermal wells require energy (often electricity) whose origin (fossil v. renewable) has to be taken into account. Furthermore, building a plant requires, raw materials, transport and auxiliary energy. All of which have a carbon footprint. The total energy demand for input will be accounted for in the calculation of the environmental impact of a project.
  • The same principle applies for the output of a station. Whilst the electricity produced by a geothermal power plant might be 100% clean, it bears the limitations of transport of raw materials for construction and the building of the plant itself.
  • Finally, it is necessary to ensure that refrigerant used in geothermal turbines shall not leak which would have a detrimental impact on the environment. One way to ensure transparency and maintenance of high safety standards throughout the lifetime of a geothermal plant is to enforce environmental monitoring. Said monitoring shall be available to the public to showcase the good performance of geothermal energy which would then improve social acceptance of the technology once the public sees for itself that geothermal has great versatility coupled with high environmental standards.

LPRC participates at the GEOENVI-CROWDTHERMAL joint webinar – part 2

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The recommendations coming from GEOENVI (see part 1) directly echoe the CROWDTHERMAL project’s vision for social acceptance on geothermal projects. CROWDTHERMAL identified 4 factors of public acceptance:

  1. Self-efficacy: Energy transition means the change of infrastructures and daily life environments. It is important to experience one’s own impact and influence within this transformation process.
  2. Identity: The more people can identify emotionnally with a measure, the greater their willingness to accept it. This means that infrastructure measures must also be recognised emotionally as elements of one’s own living environment. This is more likely to happen with more local stakeholders involed (regulators, SME and local communities).
  3. Orientation and insight: If people understand the necessity of a political decision and support the goals and means envisaged by this decision, they are more likely to accept it. Therefore, transparent information is needed about what they will face. Crucial elements are transparency about pros and cons and potential alternatives.
  4. Positive risk-benefit balance: Acceptance is more likely the more the planned consequences of a decision benefits oneself or related groups. This includes the perception of low or at least acceptables risks. In this context, the risk assessments of experts and those of laypersons are often not congruents.

Finally, with regard to financing of geothermal projects, CROWDTHERMAL confirmed that community funding can play an important role to initiate and support geothermal projects by raising additional funds. Especially in the early project development phases, alternative finance methods can enable more geothermal projects to be brought to life. Community funding can also achieve public engagement and increase acceptance. In the light of the massive investments needed, especially for deep geothermal power projects, community funding is yet not considered to be functional entirely on its own, but rather in combination with other (conventional) forms of finance.

Community funding can play an important role to initiate and support geothermal projects.

The most suitable alternative finance method very much depends on the individual project characteristics and context. At the early project development stages, especially crowdfunding (shares/equity or reward-based) can be attractive options to achieve community co-ownership and to enhance project support. The high resource-related risk in the early phases leads to high return expectation of investors. Community funding is generally less risky in the construction and operation phases, but the potential returns at these stages are also less attractive.

Understanding and developing a project in a holistic way, taking into consideration technical, financial, and social dimensions as well as their interdependency is an important risk mitigation measure for project developers. It reduces the risk of interface problems and increases the chances for a Social License to Operate as well as for technical and economic success.

Further readings:

GEOENVI Recommendations for the harmonisation of geothermal environmental regulations in the EU: https://www.geoenvi.eu/publications/recommendations-for-european-harmonisation-of-geothermal-environmental-regulations-in-the-eu/

CROWDTHERMAL guidelines for Public acceptance: https://www.crowdthermalproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CROWDTHERMAL-D1.4.pdf

CROWTHERMAL community for renewable energy best practices in Europe: https://www.crowdthermalproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CROWDTHERMAL-D2.1-new-version.pdf

LPRC participates at the GEOENVI-CROWDTHERMAL joint webinar – part 1

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On Tuesday 16 March, GEOENVI and the CROWDTHERMAL project, where LPRC leads one work package, hosted a joint online event titled: “Targeting acceptability and co-ownership for deep geothermal projects”. In this event, an expert panel discussed recommendations and ways forward for public engagement for deep geothermal, based on good practices on crowdfunding from the CROWDTHERMAL project and gave some academic perspectives on the subject.

Mission statement of both projects:

The objective of the GEOENVI project is to answer environmental concerns in terms of both impacts and risks, by first setting an adapted methodology for assessing environment impacts to the project developers, and by assessing the environmental impacts and risks of geothermal projects operational or in development in Europe.

The webinar (part 1):

Both EU projects tackle the question of public engagement with different hypothesis, so this webinar was an opportunity to gain a better overall understanding of public engagement based on two different scopes and methodologies.

The first part of the webinar was focused on the research output of the GEOENVI project. GEOENVI argues that further development of geothermal projects will boil down to creating an energy community and better communication on the side of developers. The combination of these two aspects is believed to have the potential to raise social acceptance of geothermal projects.

Building an energy community is the action of involving local stakeholders (regulators, local industries, SMEs and individual citizens) in the production of sustainable heat and/or electricity. The aim is to ensure that energy production can provide opportunities to local businesses (see similar conclusion from the Trends in geothermal webinar) as well as energy for local households. The figure below showcases some of the inititation that may be undertaken by project developpers and regulatory authorities to insert energy project in a community to the benefits of a variety of economic activities.

1Initiatives to promote the sustainable development of geothermal areas.

With regards to dissemination and communcation of project activities, GEOENVI discovered that there is a gap between how project developpers think they communicate and how the public feels it is informed. On the following figure,  it is appararent that the public generally feels poorly informed. This misunderstanding in communication draws a wedge between a project and its surrounding community. In Alsace, this wedge resulted in tension between local communities and geothermal development in spite of the geothermal potential of the area and the positive economical impact of competititive green energy on its surrounding market. The problematic is particularly interresting when we consider that misinformation leading to mlistrust of a technology is also visible in other sector (wind turbines, electric cars and more recently vaccines).

Participation in public inquiries held in Alsace 2015/2016.

Based on these two problematics, GEOENVI will provide policy recommendation for the European Union in hope that it could turn the tie of geothermal development in the continent, thus meeting climate goals whilst ensuring social gains at local level.

GEOENVI calls for European standards on information sharing by setting up minimum qualitative requirements for information sharing on energy projects. This will not only ensure better trust into new green technologies but also enables project developpers to draw conclusions from other projects that have similar minimal communication requirements:

  • Choose and collect the relevant information enabling project developpers and researchers alike to confidentially collect environmental concerns and posititve impact to compare any project with other Renewable Energy Sources (RES);
  • Adapt the communication target: distinguish ‘public’ from ‘experts’ in the communication strategy so that anyone can understand the purpose and methodlogy of an energy project in his/her/their own words;
  • Improve data accessibility and awareness of accessible information: FAIR data principle , independent appeal commintee for confidentiality issues;
  • Share reliable information: All project developpers shall ensure a pro-active data sharing strategy to inform the public in the name, of transparency and trust building.

This article continues on part 2.