GeoPower Europe

GeoPower Europe: Milan, Italy
The Official Conference of the European Geothermal Energy Council

The third annual event focused on the development of geothermal power in Europe.

GeoPower Europe 2011 Picture Gallery

"I very much enjoyed speaking at GeoPower Europe and found it to be a productive and insightful use of two days. The must-attend event in the geothermal industry" Ormat

The third annual GeoPower Europe conference and exhibition proved to be the most successful yet. As our day one pictures demonstrate, the exhibition room and conference sessions were heavily populated all day with senior level geothermal industry leaders. The morning political keynote, lead by Samuele Furfari, Senior Advisor at the European Commission, proved extremely popular, with discussion centred on Europe's upcoming geothermal installations (namely in Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, France and Hungary) and the suitability of geothermal to meet Europe's heat demands (heating represents 47% of Europe's energy usage). 

The morning of day two saw some great presentations from major oil service companies: Baker Hughes, Schlumberger and Fugro. The recent developments in the oil Industry and especially the shale gas boom in the US had helped develop fracking experience and know-how in horizontal drilling.

The afternoon sessions continued the discussion on Enhanced Geothermal and the global opportunities in the industry, with Italy, Chile and Peru featuring heavily.
 

The GeoPower Europe conference and exhibition in 2011:

• Offered advice on securing finance from venture capital funds and institutional investors
• Explored unconventional geothermal resources
• Provided in-depth analysis of emerging markets including East Africa
• Reviewed the potential of shallow geothermal, including Ground Source Heat Pumps

What else was new?

• A multi-streamed agenda enabled delegated to tailor the conference to areas of specialism
• Roundtable discussion groups gave you face-to-face time with key European geothermal industry leaders
• Larger exhibition room

Samuele Furfari, Senior Advisor at the European Commission, was the political keynote speaker day one of the 2011 event. Mr Furfari joined the EC in 1982,  where he has contributed to the coordination and formulation of energy and transport policy. He has been involved with the EU’s energy and climate package (20/20/20) from an early stage. He is teaching Geopolitics of Energy at the  Free University of Brussels, and also collaborates closely with the European Energy Forum.

Further Speakers Included

Extract from EGEC invite letter - click here to read the full text

"Geothermal is the only source of renewable energy capable of driving such consistent and reliable electricity generation 24h per day, 365 days per year and the resource represents 25 billion times the world annual energy consumption; an almost unlimited and renewable source of energy. This heat flux from the earth to the atmosphere if not harvested is otherwise lost.

As geothermal energy is available everywhere, local geothermal electricity production also
reduces reliance on imports from unreliable suppliers. EGEC would like to emphasise the
fact that geothermal will be key for an optimal energy mix. The geothermal sector calls on
national governments and European Institutions to:

• Invest in R&D to deploy EGS and bring down the cost of EGS plants
• Adopt a Feed-in-Tariff suitable for EGS development
• Create a European Risk Insurance Scheme; to mitigate the geological risk

These topics and many more will be discussed and debated in detail at the conference in Milan
with particular focus on the commerciality crucial to securing the investment that will fund the
next phase of geothermal R&D. In addition, as Africa, Asia and South America develop their own
resources we’ll hear from the individuals leading those markets to share their expertise and
debate global implications."