This Earth Day 2022, GEG would like to acknowledge the UN’s April 2022 Sustainable Development Goal, “Life on Land”
Declining biodiversity and degraded ecosystems driven by external pressures such as development, pollution, and land use change are threatening especially poor and vulnerable communities. The impact on wildlife and fragile ecological systems, too, needs to be urgently addressed. SDG 15 calls for sustainable management of forests, combating desertification, to halt and reverse land degradation, and to halt biodiversity loss.
Read more about modular geothermal‘s low impact on the land & GEG’s commitment to environmental and social sustainability here!
GEG’s Chief Research Officer is On-site in the Kinnaur District This Month Making Significant Progress in Early Survey and Exploratory Work
31 March 2022 — At the end of last year, GEG ehf. received final permission from the State Government of Himachal Pradesh in India to begin conducting the survey and exploration studies for our geothermal cooling project (GEG Cooling) to provide a cold-storage solution for local apple farmers. This project marks a significant effort towards GEG’s goals for increasing food security and sustainability in local communities.
Over this past month, our Chief Research Officer (CRO) Dr. Vijay Chauhan has been working in the Kinnaur district (Northwest Himalayas region) in India to fulfill this exciting next step in the GEG Cooling project. Following the highly successful introductory meeting at NCUI, Dr. Chauhan went on to perform the project’s early work alongside several stakeholders and local experts.
Dr. Chauhan leading the workshop with local stakeholders
A workshop was held with local graduate students from various STEM fields, farmers, and leading tourism industry professionals, where Dr. Chauhan informed participants on the project activities and aims. Dr. Árni Ragnarsson also presented virtually on types of geothermal utilization in Iceland.
The team working on-site, made up of Dr. Chauhan and local experts.
The team in India’s field work has so far involved a structural survey, identification of the areas for a seismic profile, geochemical studies, and seismic studies. The structural survey was completed on 16 March, and the geochemistry was started soon after. Following this was the current seismic study, begun on 20 March, that has so far spanned several days.
During these in-depth and often thrilling exploration activities, many new hot springs were discovered and investigated by Dr. Chauhan and the rest of the team. Dr. Chauhan stated that they “have identified the areas for seismic profile” and that the area’s “potential is even larger than” his earlier estimation.
Geochemical studies being performed.Day 3 of the seismic survey work.
All of this is very good news for GEG and for the great potential this cooling project in the Himalayas could have for dramatically improving the social and environmental sustainability in the area. The photo gallery below has even more photos of this exciting ongoing work, all taken by Dr. Chauhan. As the survey and exploratory work is completed, our LinkedIn will have more updates so that others can follow along on this journey.
Follow us to keep updated and read more about our GEG Cooling technology here.
Full photo gallery of the survey and exploratory work performed in March 2022:
Workshop with local stakeholders and experts, lead by GEG CRO Dr. Vijay Chauhan
GEG’s CRO performing a geothermal resource assessment as part of the survey studies for our cooling project in India.
Further exploration into Central European geothermal planned following Cindrigo’s acquisition of ECG
Croatia – Dubrovnik
24 March 2022 — This industry-defining news will mean significant advancements in geothermal development throughout Central Europe, particularly in Croatia and Hungary. Cindrigo’s focus within the area of renewable energy is primarily geothermal power and related energy projects.
For GEG ehf., whose largest shareholder is ECG, this is an exciting opportunity to grow as a geothermal company and continue progressing with current ongoing geothermal projects (such as our Southern Chile and India cooling projects), as well as our work in local communities. Furthermore, this will mean that GEG can even more successfully fulfill our company goals towards sustainable development and to support the global clean energy transition.
Exciting Discussions on Geothermal in New Delhi, with GEG ehf. at the Forefront
On the 21st of February, GEG and the Government of Iceland held an introductory meeting at the National Cooperative Union of India headquarters.
From left to right: NCUI Chief Executive Dr. Sudhir Mahajan, Ambassador Guðni Bragason, NCUI Managing Director Krishna Hydro, and GEG CRO Vijay Chauhan. (Government of Iceland)
02 March 2022 — Early last week, our very own CRO Dr. Vijay Chauhan and India’s Ambassador of Iceland Guðni Bragason met at the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) headquarters in New Delhi, India, to give an introduction of the community benefits of geothermal direct use applications. Dr. Chauhan is currently on location in India to perform the early survey and exploratory studies for GEG’s innovative new geothermal cooling project, and the NCUI meeting marked an important milestone in the progress of this project.
Meeting with key NCUI individuals, including Chief Executive Dr. Sudhir Mahajan, Dr. Chauhan was able to present our cold storage project, which will be taking place in the Himachal Pradesh in Northern India. The GEG Cooling project will allow for the geothermal-powered refrigeration of apples for local farmers in the area, which will be an important contributor towards food security. Ambassador Bragason emphasized the importance of renewable, geothermal energy in local communities and for their food production.
Direct engagement with communities and local stakeholders is an important aspect of GEG ehf.’s project development, as well as to strive towards environmental and social sustainability in all the work we do. This introductory meeting in New Delhi represents this mission, and serves as an exciting point in the early work being performed in India to push forward GEG Cooling.
Check out this article by ThinkGeoEnergy on the Top 10 Geothermal Countries of 2021 based on power generation capacity, where Kenya and Iceland have made the cut!
In Kenya alone, GEG and its acquired assets have delivered over 10% of Kenya’s (and 9% of Africa’s) total installed geothermal power generation capacity! Globally, they have contributed 86 MW in installed geothermal power generation capacity thanks to GEG and its assets’ efforts and our power plants in both Iceland and Kenya.
09 December 2021 — We at GEG Power are excited to announce that last month we received final permission from the State Government of Himachal Pradesh in India to begin conducting the survey and exploration studies for our innovative GEG Cooling project on cold-storage solutions for local apple farmers.
The first survey is expected to begin as early as January 2022. You can read the full article here on ThinkGeoEnergy, the leading information provider on the global geothermal energy sector.
To learn more about our cooling technology and direct use know-how at GEG, and for the related services we offer, visit our page on GEG Cooling.
03 December 2021 — Green by Iceland, a local platform for the cooperation on climate issues and green solutions, posted an interview last month featuring our very own CEO Sigthor Jonsson regarding GEG Power’s ongoing work in geothermal development.
In the video, Sigthor discusses our journey as a company starting with our pilot project for KenGen in Kenya, to our now 86 MW of geothermal power generation capacity. The interview highlights GEG’s innovative modular approach and our new company mission and vision, including GEG’s commitment to environment, community, and the exploration of more direct use opportunities.
GEG is one of Green by Iceland’s GreenTech partners, and is also featured on their website as a prime example of Iceland’s green solutions and renewable energy expertise. Check out the full list of Green Tech partners here on their website, where GEG Power can be found underneath the geothermal sector.
02 December 2021 — Early last month, GEG ehf. underwent an annual audit right here in Reykjavik in order to maintain our ISO 9001 certification. This international standard certification was for our quality management system, which GEG prides itself on as part of our commitment to good and sustainable corporate governance.
The company is proud to report that GEG successfully underwent the auditing process, and following this we have received a renewal of the ISO 9001! We will continue to strive to meet the highest standards for quality management systems and beyond in all of our day-to-day operations.
Read more about Governance at GEG here, and look back at the first awarding of our ISO 9001 certification here.
Congratulations to the GEG management team on this achievement!
