Germany’s largest geothermal congress shows the way to heat transition

After the successful EGC last year, the German Geothermal Association is now organizing the DGK 2023 (Photo: Denis Konovalov)

After a very successful European Geothermal Congress 2022 in Berlin and two digital geothermal congresses, the annual German Geothermal Congress (Der Geothermie Kongress) will take place on-site again this year as usual. This year, the Haus der Technik in Essen will again enable the exchange of knowledge and networking for the German and international geothermal industry.

Municipal utilities and municipal energy suppliers can register for a workshop on municipal heat planning with geothermal energy on Thursday, the workshop day of the congress. In addition to fundamental lectures on how to use near-surface, medium-depth or deep geothermal energy in the heat mix of the municipalities, there is also the opportunity throughout the congress to get advice at the joint stand of the North Rhine-Westphalian specialist authorities Geologischer Dienst, State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection and district government Arnsberg as well as by NRW.Energy4Climate and the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and to explore the regional geothermal potential and funding opportunities directly.

Learning from each other and working together is also the focus of the diverse sessions on topics related to near-surface, medium-depth and deep geothermal energy, which are offered on Tuesday and Wednesday in four parallel lecture strands. In addition to German-language sessions, there will also be English-language sessions in order to do justice to the increasingly international audience.

The Nordic partner countries in focus this year, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, will present their geological features and their solutions for the future energy market. Whether it’s years of experience with high-temperature geothermal energy from Iceland, innovative district heating concepts from Denmark or the widespread use of near-surface geothermal energy as in Sweden, the Nordic countries take geothermal energy as a matter of course.

Top-class greetings were given on Wednesday by Minister Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy and Deputy Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Icelandic Ambassador María Erla Marelsdóttir. Several prizes are then awarded by the Bundesverband Geothermie eV: The Patricius Medal for special merits in geothermal energy, the prize for the best young scientist, and the “Science Bar” poster competition, which recognizes the best bachelor’s, master’s, or Doctoral thesis awarded.

The supporting program offers many opportunities for networking: On Tuesday, an Icebreaker evening as a casual standing reception, a joint social evening on Wednesday and an exhibition of various companies and scientific institutes, as well as excursions to Fraunhofer IEG in Bochum and to the geothermal company DMT Group in Essen.

Participants from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will be represented as well as European guests. From interested students to large companies and public utilities as well as well-known institutes, the audience at the congress represents a cross-section of the people who will shape geothermal energy into a real energy power in the future.

All information about the congress at : www.der-geothermiekongress.de

About the Bundesverband Geothermie eV:

The Bundesverband Geothermie eV (BVG), founded in 1991, is an association of companies and individuals who are active in all areas of research and application in the field of geothermal energy use. It brings together members from industry, science, planning and the energy supply sector. The main tasks of the association are to inform the public about the possibilities of using geothermal energy to generate heat and electricity and to engage in dialogue with political decision-makers. The BVG organizes the annual geothermal congress DGK as well as workshops on current topics and is the publisher of the trade journal “Geothermal Energy” and other information material. The DGK 2023 will take place in Essen from October 17th to 19th.