Ibero-American Network for Shallow Geothermal Energy

ALCARAZ, MAR; GIL, SALVADOR; BLESSENT, DANIELA; LOPEZ SANCHEZ, IDALIA JACQUELINE; LLORET, ANDRES; DANIELE, LINDA; SCHEIBER, LAURA; MAGALÍ E. CARRO PÉREZ; MORRILLÓN , DAVID; SUARDÍAZ, JUAN; GAMAZO, PABLO; BLANCO, GABRIEL

MALAGA

Congreso; 46th IAH Congress; 2019

Asociación Internacional de Hidrogeología

The shallow geothermal energy is experiencing a continued growth in Ibero-American countries in keepingwith the worldwide concern about climate change, and of course, as a feasible option to reduce the economiccharges of electricity uses.To promote the use of alternative renewable energy sources in Latin America, such as shallow geothermalenergy, the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (Programa de Ciencia yTecnología para el Desarrollo ? CYTED) is financially supporting the Ibero-American Network for ShallowGeothermal Energy (Red Iberoamericana de Geotermia Somera ? RIGS-CYTED). CYTED program has theaim to encourage the installation, development and integration of shallow geothermal energy systems for thedevelopment of productive activities, heating and air conditioning in buildings of different types in both urbanand rural areas using mature technologies, tested and available in Latin America.As an integrating network, RIGS-CYTED will create a cooperative working framework that facilitates and catalyzes the generation of new activities related to R+D+I around shallow geothermal energy in Ibero-America.This is possible because the participant groups are currently conducting scientific and technological activitiesrelated to shallow geothermal energy and other subsurface resources.RIGS-CYTED is integrated by 11 research groups from 7 different countries (Argentina, Spain, Chile, Ecuador,Paraguay, Colombia and Mexico) enclosing a total of 55 researchers, with the collaboration of external partnersfrom NGOs and SMEs. They all have committed during the next four years to join forces to achieve theproposed objectives.The expected results from the first year of work will be related with the publication of a preliminary version forthe Ibero-American Atlas of shallow geothermal potential. In the following years, RIGS members will evaluateexisting and mature technologies, carry out a normative and regulatory analysis for each country, elaboratea good practice manual based on international specifications, identify applications at metropolitan scale withtechnical-economic feasibility analysis, identify the cluster of local companies related to the development andmanufacture of equipment and components and, finally, develop numerical models to simulate the shallowgeothermal exploitation in groundwater to assess environmental impacts.