The Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award 2021 opens its nominations

The European Geothermal Council, better known as EGEC Geothermal, has announced the opening of the nominations of the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award 2021. This award is given to European companies and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution towards the field of geothermal energy in the form of innovative products, scientific research or projects initiatives. Evidently, only those entities that are located or have operations within Europe can present their candidacy.

The entry can cover a new concept or the development of an existing process or product to provide an innovative and sustainable approach, developed or released within the previous year (01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020).

Benefits, improvements and reliability of the innovation should be clearly stated on the entry form. If research projects, to be qualified as innovation, nominees should have Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of 7 or higher, as defined by the Horizon 2020 Work Programme.

Among all the applications, which will have to be presented before February 15, the jury will choose the one that meets most of the evaluation requirements: originality, innovation, reliability, reduction of emissions, and improvements in energy output.

Previous winners

This is not the first time that the Ruggero Bertani European Geothermal Innovation Award has been held. In 2020, in midst of a global pandemic, the award was earned by the Icelandic Carbfix project and German company Eavor on equal merit.

In the 2019 edition, it was Jansen HIPRESS’ borehole heat exchanger who won this recognition. It was a novel technology for applications in depths of more than 300 meters, that allows the exploitation of high temperatures at greater depths improving, at the same time, the efficiency of the heat pump.

BESTEC, for their contribution to the development of commercial EGS projects; OnOware, for their miniaturized sensor which allows to professionally plan, monitor and measure near-surface geothermal probes near; and MijnWater, for the innovative infrastructure for the distribution of mine water throughout the municipality of Heerlen, are other projects awarded in previous years, specifically in 2014, 2017 and 2015.