The European Centres of Excellence for Surface Geothermal Energy Applications – ECoE – organized its first European course on 25-26 September 2023, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to promoting the latest research results in the field of surface geothermal energy. The course attracted approx. 70 participants who were experts in our field, as well as PhD and MSc students in surface geothermal energy.
Location: The course was held over two days, in a hybrid format – online and in person at the 4 partner European Centres of Excellence:
Spain – University of Valencia – Centre of Excellence for Western Europe
- Italy – University of Padova – Center of Excellence for Southern Europe
- Germany – Friedrich-Alexander University Nuremberg – Erlangen – Center of Excellence for Central Europe
- Romania – Romanian Geoexchange Society – Oradea – Center of Excellence for Eastern Europe
Course Structure
The course was structured in four modules, each addressing important aspects related to surface geothermal energy:
MODULE I – nZEB Buildings, Technical characteristics of calculating the thermal demand in buildings and Application of surface geothermal energy in the rehabilitation of historical and heritage buildings
MODULE II – Geology, Geothermal energy mapping, Environmental impact and Regulations and standards applicable in the field
MODULE III – Innovative methods in geothermal drilling, Increasing the performance of geothermal heat pumps
MODULE IV – Thermal response test – TRT, Evaluation of TRT results, Decision support systems for sizing geothermal installations
Participants
Among the 70 participants from all over Europe, 25 students came from Romania. The Romanian students participated in person (9 students) at the headquarters of the Romanian Geoexchange Society and the European Center of Excellence for Eastern Europe in Oradea, and the others (16 students) followed the course online. It is worth noting that 5 of the Romanian participants are PhD students at specialized universities in Bucharest – UTCB – and Cluj-Napoca, the remaining 20 registered students being specialists in the field of geothermal energy, including from the academic environment.
Participation in all 4 course modules offered the students the opportunity to obtain a Diploma of participation in the first course in the European EcoE network, as well as access to the entire GEO4CIVHIC documentation presented during the two days of the course (in electronic format). Graduates of the course have joined the ECoE network communication group and will be informed about all the news in the field, thus having the opportunity to come into direct contact with ECoE specialists.
As the GEO4CIVHIC project leader, Ms. Doinița-Iuliana Cucuețeanu, Vice President of RGS coordinated this first public event in the network of the 4 European Centers of Excellence – ECoE.
Participating as lecturers in module I, whose responsibility fell entirely to RGS, were Mr. Horia Ban, President of RGS, Ms. Iulia Prodan – Director for European Projects RGS, and Alexandra Ban – Termoline Researcher, RGS member.
The success of the inaugural course of the European network of centers of excellence in surface geothermal energy underlines the importance of efforts to increase the level of competence in the field. The ECoE network will annually organize such complex courses with a European scope, as well as other types of courses, workshops and events at the national level ECoE Eastern Europe – Romania in order to promote knowledge exchange and innovation in the community of geothermal specialists.
