Dear Friends, Colleagues and Business Partners.
- Geothermal in the spotlight -
In recent years, the number of geothermal power plants for heat and electrical power production has increased steadily in Central Europe. In Germany, this does not only apply to the deep geothermal systems in the Molasse Basin, but also to wells drilled in the Upper Rhine Graben. In this geologically challenging region, two demonstration plants were developed and implemented in Insheim and Landau. After five years of valuabel operational experience, the Landau project is currently being extended by a second injection well. In hindsight, this can be seen as a particularly positive development, since, after a series of seismic events in Basel and Landau in the years of 2006 and 2009, operators had found themselves at the center of a controversial public debate.
There certainly is a need to promote geothermal energy and to inform about its risks and advantages in order to ease public anxiety. How can public involvement be implemented and facilitated? How have other countries tackled the issue of public involvement?
As a consequence of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the German government implemented a drastic change in energy policy, known as Germany’s energy turn-around. Nevertheless, we may have to ask ourselves if Germany’s energy turn-around indicates a global trend towards alternative energies and what role geothermal energy will play in this context?
We believe all this to be enough reason to again cordially invite you to join us during the
"Third European Geothermal Review" in Mainz, Germany, June 24 - 26, 2013
We would like to openly debate all aspects, problems, opportunities and challenges of power production from geothermal energy with you. We want to share experiences, listen to your problems and discuss future strategies and technologies. Geothermal resources cannot be carried from one continent to another. We are bound to be linked to the ground beneath our feet. Therefore, we believe that communication links in our geothermal industry should be much less restricted for reasons of competition and professional secrecy than in any other energy industry. Let's make use of this advantage, let's jointly make geothermal stronger, more successful!
We are looking forward to seeing you in Mainz,