GEOPLAT at the International Energy and Environment Trade Fair GENERA 2024

Margarita de Gregorio, coordinator of GEOPLAT, was a speaker at the conference entitled ‘The role of thermal renewables in the decarbonisation process‘ organised by IDAE on 8 February during GENERA 2024, the International Energy and Environment Fair held in Madrid.

Representatives from different thermal renewable energy entities met there to review the situation of their respective sectors, their capacity for decarbonisation, and the impact of recent investment aid for thermal energy production facilities using renewable energy. The other speakers were Miguel Frasquet Herraiz, CEO of SOLATOM; Fernando Mateo Barrientos, head of Industrial Decarbonisation and Projects at Iberdrola; and Francisco Javier Muñoz Sánchez, director of the ACOR SCoop sugar factory.

Margarita de Gregorio highlighted geothermal energy as the last renewable energy to be developed in Spain, but one of those with the greatest potential to contribute to decarbonising industry and residential areas. Among its success stories, he highlighted the heat network of Mieres (Asturias) of Grupo HUNOSA, the air conditioning of the modernist Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona), and various housing cooperatives in Madrid, being one of the most sought-after options by buyers.

With regard to what is needed to increase the penetration of these renewable thermal energies, the speakers agreed that it is necessary:

A lot of information and training for the industrial sector
Technologies at a competitive price compared to gas
A mature and available industrial park, capable of making ‘tailor-made solutions’
Clarify the regulatory issue
Have a register of thermal renewables (just as electricity has)
Emphasise that there is no single solution; depending on factors such as location or real needs, the use of a specific energy source or hybridisation between several will be required