The promise of geothermal goes far beyond just providing baseload power. Heating and cooling with low temperature geothermal resources has long been underutilized and unrecognized, but one company hoping to change that is GeoExchange NZ. I sit down with Celia Wells. Strategic Developments Manager to talk about how GeoExchange is working to unlock the low temperature geothermal resource in a place where geothermal is a key player in the country's electricity sector. From district heating to agriculture, we cover it all.
The Earth's heat produced from radioactive decay in the core has many benefits once recovered and brought to the surface. Most focus is placed on its ability to provide baseload power, which is important, but arguably the most widespread use case being heating and cooling gets overlooked. Geothermal is ubiquitous throughout the planet, however, it does vary by location the feasibility of extracting the resource, but harvesting low temperature resources can be done most anywhere. Once harvested, the use cases are seemingly endless, heat and cool your home, office building, school, grow vegetables, process dairy, aquaculture, and so much more. I had the chance to sit down with Celia Wells who is the Strategic Developments Manager at GeoExchange NZ and talk about their goals, the size of the prize and what challenges lie ahead.
GeoExchange NZ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/geoexchange-new-zealand/posts/?feedView=all
Celia Wells
https://www.linkedin.com/in/celia-wells-74402291/
Celia's Book Recommendation
Range by David Epstein
CORE Knowledge
https://www.linkedin.com/company/core-geothermal
Nick Cestari