Looking forward to EAGE’s first energy transition conference 

February 2020

We ‘get’ the challenge of the world’s changing climate for the geoscience and related engineering community. That’s why EAGE is planning the 1st Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference (GET) for November this year in Strasbourg, France, 16-18 November. 

The conference will address what skills and what technologies are required to support the growth of renewable energy in the energy mix. It will also provide a forum to exchange the knowledge about CCS, energy storage as well as topics such as hazardous (nuclear) waste storage, hydrogen/methane production and storage, geochemistry applications, risk and environmental impact analysis, offshore wind energy (turbine placement, engineering challenges, re-use of O&G platforms), etc. The context of the conference is that the world climate is changing more rapidly than expected, caused by the increasing use of fossil fuels for energy production. A rapid growth in renewable energy supply is needed urgently as coal power has to be switched to gas and renewables or maybe nuclear. 

In addition, decarbonization of the oil and gas industry using carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being seriously developed. It would seem all options have to be applied simultaneously to have a chance of halting the increase of CO2 production. Use of the earth’s subsurface plays a pivotal role for most of the technologies that can contribute to slow down the greenhouse effect. Geosciences have a role to play in evolving a safe and environmentally friendly handling of the subsurface. 

The targeted storage of CO2 in safe subsurface formations has been demonstrated in many projects. Besides the development of accurate measuring, monitoring and verification technologies, an integrated risk assessment is needed to ensure the safety of potential storage sites and to address the legitimate concerns of the local communities about this technology. 

Many renewable energy sources, notably solar and wind, produce variable power. Large-scale energy storage systems need to be provided to level out the imbalances between supply and demand that this causes. Technologies include pumped-storage hydroelectric dams, thermal storage including molten salts, compressed air and electric energy converted into gas (hydrogen, methane) with stockage in natural geological formations, in gas distribution networks or in artificial salt caverns. 

Geothermal energy can play a substantial role in the energy system as it provides baseload power and is increasingly targeted as a solution to decarbonise the heating and cooling sector. Future geoscientists will be required to skillfully use both their subsurface knowledge for mapping and quantifying the geothermal reserves, improve the performance and reduce the risks of the assets, and communicate effectively with all stakeholders. 

In looking forward to GET, all geoscientists, subsurface engineers, energy providers, the industrial sector, researchers and academics, public authorities and other stakeholders in Europe and beyond are welcome to submit an abstract and join this new and groundbreaking conference. Learn more at www.GET2020.org.