Igor Kočiš about the support of renewable energy: Australia can be an inspiration for Slovakia.

Representatives of Geothermal Anywhere attended an international event conference The Australian Geothermal Energy Conference held from 16th to 19th November 2010 in Adelaide, Australia.

Igor Kočiš, Chief Executive Officer, described the main findings of this conference. In his point of view, Australia has a long-term strategy for promoting renewable energy system, which is not limited to one electoral term. Therefore Australia can be an inspiration for Slovakia.

The whole article in Slovak language you can find on our partner portal Energia.sk.

The official opening - Research center for deep drilling technologies

On November 10th, Geothermal Anywhere officially opened the new laboratories - Research Center for Deep Drilling technologies in the premises of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. It is a result of long-term activities whose aim is to support the geothermal technology research and development in Slovakia. The participants of this opening were the representatives of the research sector, industry and government organizations.

During the opening, Tomáš Krištofič, the technical director of Geothermal Anywhere, said: “In Slovakia, there is a potential to do a research that can be introduced into real live in a global scale. The main goal of new laboratories is the research of special generator system for disintegration of the rock in ultra-deep conditions based on pulsed electric plasma. This research would solve exponential price rise of deep drilling. A multidisciplinary approach must be guaranteed because of the difficulty and complexity of the whole development. In this process, new knowledge is needed, particularly knowledge from physics of plasma or new materials suitable for extreme conditions. Very important for the research team is the option of automated testing of new experiments.”

Research center is equipped with most advanced technological equipment which will be operated by experienced staff. We hope that the environment of the laboratories would be attractive for highly qualified professionals from all the relevant technology segments. The Research center was built with close partnership with Slovak University of Technology and relevant institutes from Slovak Academy of Sciences. The success of new research center will be guaranteed with an appropriate combination of all the factors mentioned above.

The official opening was associated with demonstration of new non-contact technology for deep drilling. The main aim of this new concept is to produce geothermal wells for an appropriate cost.

You can see pictures and more pieces of information from the official opening on our Geothermania portal.



EU about to miss (un)renewable chance

As a part of plan of economic recovery, EU decided to allocate EUR 3.98 billion on energy projects. Today, the vast majority (97 %) has been devoted CCS technology demonstrations, building some cross-border gas and electricity interconnections as well as for developing a series of offshore wind parks etc; but not a single euro for geothermal projects.

In the beginning of March 2010, European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) raised its voice and asked European Commission to give some insurances for risks linked to geothermal drilling projects as well as to large geology explorations. In other words, EGEC in name of geothermal industry asked for what remained from 3.98 billion-euro package.

EUR 119 million could be turned into the buffer helping us to overcome main barriers, which we  (geothermal industry) face in regards of geothermal energy development. Financial insurance schemes are necessary in order to whet companies’ appetite for large geology explorations, despite the related risks. Similar insurance schemes are in place for example in France, Switzerland, Germany or Netherlands. But schemes on EU level are desperately missing.

Finally, yesterday we saw interesting advertising video spot and lower we share it with you. This one is focused on promotion of wind energy, which is definitely not our favorite. But despite of that this spot is creative, so in this case we are taking of our hats off to competitors. It is about “Mr. W” (wind energy), who lived lonely and misunderstood by people. One businessman once recognized him and closed the deal. At the same time, similarly to “Mr. W”, there also “Ms. G” (representing geothermal) – she has lived not recognized and also under-appreciated not only by the people, but by the EU as well. Leaders in Brussels should recognize her as soon as possible; otherwise EU is about to miss (un)renewable chance and great opportunity.