Hot topics and cool careers - highlights from New Zealand Geothermal Week 2024
Geothermal Week 2024 ignited ideas and sparked connections across Taupō and beyond.
The event series dug into the huge potential still to be unlocked in Aotearoa New Zealand’s geothermal resources.
An event for everyone
We're proud to have sponsored and supported another successful New Zealand Geothermal Week. We saw knowledge shared and inspiration sparked throughout the series of events designed for industry, businesses, schools and communities.
Our geothermal week activities began on Monday 1st July with the “Pathways Secondary Student Field Trip”. We joined Contact Energy, Mercury, and MB Century in opening our doors to a field trip of secondary school students. The trip provided students with the opportunity to visit geothermal sites and hear directly from industry professionals about their careers. Students learned about various career pathways, scholarships, internships, and apprenticeship programs available within the geothermal sector.
Student Field trip | Geothermal Week 2024
We joined Contact Energy, Mercury, and MB Century and opened our doors to secondary school students.
We were thrilled to connect with the next generation of geothermal professionals. Thanks to Asmuss, Contact Energy, Mercury, and MB Century for making it happen.
What's our potential?
On Tuesday, we hosted a workshop to ask the big questions and uncover the real potential of New Zealand's geothermal resources. We brought over 100 experts from across the science and industry sectors together to discuss our current challenges and the future possibilities of geothermal energy.
The workshop featured six rapid-fire presentations from experts covering a range of possibilities and geothermal energy technologies. Yale Carden from GeoExchange Australia discussed the power and potential of geoheat, then Katie McLean from the New Zealand Geothermal Association highlighted the critical role conventional geothermal developments play in the country's electricity system, and their potential to expand.
Chris Bromley from GNS Science delved into the realm of superhot geothermal resources, emphasizing the need for a coordinated approach to overcome regulatory and technical challenges. Andreas Heuser from Castalia presented an analysis showing the potential of superhot geothermal resources to provide 30,000GWh of energy by 2037.
Lauren Boyd from the U.S. Department of Energy shared insights on the advancements in enhanced geothermal systems in the U.S., and Samantha Alcaraz from GNS Science discussed underground thermal energy storage solutions, showcasing Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage technology.
Geoheat - it's for every day, everyone, everywhere
Our Chief Executive Chelydra Percy presented a key note seminar as part of the Wednesday's winter seminar session. She underscored the country's potential to reduce reliance on natural gas and coal for heating through geothermal heat, or "geoheat". Chelydra also revealed geoheat supply is available across the motu, and not just localised in our volcanic regions.
The presentation highlighted how our team of GNS Scientists thoroughly tested geoheat's cost-effectiveness and its significant potential to power various sectors across the economy.
She wrapped up the presentation in a call for action, now that the science has provided the foundation, it is time for the sector to take the lead and execute the NZGA Geoheat Strategy, which aims for seven new ventures and 7.5PJs of Geoheat by 2030.
Building bridges
Adding to the week’s highlights, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission) also just announced the publication of six new geothermal kupu (words) in the Māori dictionary.
The kupu were developed through the Waiwhatu Project, which sought to integrate mātauranga and scientific knowledge of geothermal systems, and was led by GNS Science, Upflow and Tarapō and Mountain to Tide. We presented the kupu during our stakeholder breakfast on Thursday, as well as our plan to create new terms with the aim to bridge cultural and scientific understanding within the geothermal sector.
GNS also introduced this new plan as, Te Arawhata, a new model for exchanging ideas and fostering synergies within the geothermal community.
Thank you to Amplify Taupō and New Zealand Geothermal Association (NZGA) for hosting another successful New Zealand Geothermal Week, we can't wait for next year!