Representatives from the Geothermal New Zealand group met earlier this month in Auckland to follow up on outcomes from the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) held in Melbourne recently. Mike Allen (Executive Director Geothermal NZ) chaired the meeting of about 25 attendees to lead through a busy agenda of items which included international geothermal updates and…
Research Aim 1-1 – Expert Design Tool A major objective of the Above Ground Geothermal and Allied Technologies (AGGAT) Research Programme is to make the assessment of heat resources potential for energy generation (geothermal / waste heat) easier for heavy engineering member companies involved in the clean energy space. This objective is being addressed through…
Above Ground Geothermal & Allied Technologies (AGGAT) is a HERA-led co-operative research programme to support the development of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plants utilizing low enthalpy geothermal resources or waste heat. The geothermal turbine, which converts the working fluid’s enthalpy into kinetic energy and then outputs the power, plays a crucial role in the…
Dr. Haiam Abbas graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Baghdad and went on to complete her Master of Engineering and a PhD in Chemical & Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. She is also a member of the Society of Chemical Engineers in New Zealand. Haiam brings with her…
As a substantial player in the agricultural space, New Zealand lurches from issues with droughts to floods to kiwifruit vine disease, the ever present danger of importing fruit flies to the proclivities of the global price for milk solids that has seen the Fonterra forecast payout per kilogramme of milk solids drop to a jarring…
Dr. Lei Chen is Turbine Research Engineer in the Industry Development division at HERA, and is leading AGGAT research on Turbine design, development and simulation. Lei graduated with a bachelor of engineering degree from Dalian University of Technology in Dalian and continued to gain a PhD degree in Turbo-machinery and Engineering from one of China’s…
We’d like to advise that a small HERA delegation will be visiting the UK/ France to visit some Organic Rankine Cycle plant manufacturers this month. If any member is interested in joining, please contact our General Manager Industry Development Nick Inskip. There will also be an opportunity to visit a marine energy device developer as…
The first ever Global Conference on Above Ground Geothermal and Allied Technologies (AGGAT) was held on 30th April 2015 in Auckland. Around 60 delegates registered for this conference covering a mix of industry, academia, field experts and government. The conference was divided into the following research themes, which also form the basis of the AGGAT…
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Those words were said by President John F Kennedy at his inauguration in 1961, and were designed to galvanize a nation to action through personal responsibility. After four years of effort and support by a lot of different people…
As part of the AGGAT program, the Heavy Engineering Education and Research Foundation (HEERF) offers scholarships to prospective university students undertaking postgraduate research related to the Heavy Engineering Sector. The AGGAT Program offers such opportunities through its research objectives in Clean Energy. This has often been a pathway of growth for our scholars into our…
The World Geothermal Congress (WGC) was held in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 19th – 24th April 2015. The event was co-hosted by New Zealand, where a number of short courses and field trips to geothermal plants also took place post-conference. Over 1,600 delegates from over 80 countries attended the conference…
An AGGAT program associate has developed some interesting intellectual property in relation to a process to mitigate silica fouling in geothermal plants. They have run the technology at lab scale and now want to proceed to field trials and ultimately a pilot plant. They feel they could benefit by partnering with a fabricator with a…