Second EAGE Workshop on Geothermal Energy in Latin America 

15-17 November 2023 

MEET OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Marco Acuña

Executive Director ICE.

Marco Acuña Mora  is the current president of Grupo ICE,  the main corporation providing electricity and telecommunications services in Costa Rica and Central America, whose headquarters is the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), created in 1949. Acuña Mora is an electronic engineer graduated from the Universidad de Costa Rica (2004), where he obtained a master's degree with an emphasis in power systems (2010) and has also worked as a teacher.He has a postgraduate degree in business administration from Edinburgh Business School in the United Kingdom (2020) and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute of the United States (2018).

Acuña began his professional career in the electrical sector at the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL). Later, he was coordinator of engineering and interconnection of Globeleq-Mesoamerica Energy; engineering manager of the Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) and director of the Empresa de la Propietaria de la Red (EPR, SIEPAC). In 2018 it was Appointed Corporate Director of Electricity of Grupo ICE.

Since 2022, as president of Grupo ICE, he has led initiatives such as the modernization of electrical and telecommunications services in rural and vulnerable areas of the Costa Rica, the process of incorporating 5G technology in the country, the expansion of the fiber optics, the diversification of renewable energy sources in the electrical matrix Costa Rican, the financial stabilization of the Corporation and the start-up of the Estrategia Corporativa 2023-2027

Luis Carlos Gutiérrez-Negrín 

Geocónsul.

He is a Mexican geologist graduated in 1974 in the National Poly technical Institute (IPN), and retired from the geothermal division of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in 2008, where he was in charge of different areas in 1979-2008, like the Geology Office, the Exploration Department, and the Human Resources Department, as well as the La Primavera geothermal field. 

He is currently the executive director of the consulting company Geocónsul, SA de CV, the Secretary of the CeMIE-Geo, AC, and a member of the Technical Committee of the World Geothermal Congress 2023 to be held in Beijing, China. He is a former President of the Mexican Geothermal Association (AGM) (2015-2017), where he also served as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors (2006-2007) of the former Geothermal Resources Council (GRC, now Geothermal Rising) and the International Geothermal Association (IGA, in 2010-2016). He was the chair of the IGA’s Information Committee (2013-2016), and the editor of the former quarterly newsletter IGA News (2014-2018). 

He is the recipient of the Pathé Award 2017 and a Geothermal Special Achievement Award in 2003, granted by the AGM and the GRC, respectively. He is currently an Editor- in-Chief of the Springer’s open-journal Geothermal Energy Science – Society – Technology. He has authored/co-authored 198 peer-reviewed papers and informal communications published in technical journals, congresses proceedings and magazines, as well as chapters of some technical books.

Dra. Rosa Maria Prol-Ledesma

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

She has a Physics Degree from the Faculty of Sciences UNAM, PhD in Physics-Mathematics from the URSS Academy of Sciences, and Diploma in Geothermal Energy Technology from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. For 43 years she has been working as a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of UNAM. Emeritus Researcher of the National System of Researchers. Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering of Mexico. To date, her work accounts for 154 publications, 2 books, 5 book chapters; three maps of geothermal resources of the Mexican Republic. Her work has more than 2900 citations. She has directed a total of 59 theses. Her publications include heat flux maps and geothermal provinces of Mexico. She has been visiting professor at Harvard University (Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences), USA, the University of Auckland (Geothermal Institute and Geology Department), New Zealand, and at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Her projects focus on the development of new geothermal exploration and exploitation methods, permanent CO2 capture in geothermal deposits, extraction of substances useful for geothermal fluids and the use of oil wells in the exploitation of geothermal energy.

Daniele L Pinti

Geotop & Université duQuébec à Montréal.

Daniele L. Pinti is a noble gas isotope geochemist working on numerous subjects, from geothermal resources to groundwater dating, from diamonds to glaciated exposure ages. He is presently the director of Geotop, one of the largest geoscience-oriented research centers in Canada and full professor at the Earth and atmospheric sciences department of the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 1989, he obtained his MSc degree in Geology at the University of Rome, Italy, working on soil gases as exploration tools in the high-temperature geothermal field of Latera, Central Italy. After a brief interval in the industry, he moved in 1991 at Université de Paris VI for a PhD in noble gas geochemistry applied to oil resources. In 1996, he joined the Earth and Planetary Science group at Osaka University, Japan for a post doctorate on Archean Geology, developing nitrogen isotopes as isotopic biomarkers with studies in Australia, Greenland, and South Africa. From 1999 to 2004 was assistant professor at the Université de Paris SUD working on K-Ar dating. In 2004 he joined the UQAM where he built a noble gas laboratory specialized in crustal fluids, with activities spanning from groundwater dating to geothermal resources. Since 2014, he is actively working on geothermal resources with projects in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Iceland, La Reunion, Hawaii and Japan. He authored more than 100 scientific papers.

Hamed Soroush

Teverra.

Dr Hamed Soroush is an entrepreneur and geomechanics expert with more than 25 years of subsurface engineering experience in oil and gas, geothermal and carbon storage. He has conducted or managed more than 300 consulting and research projects worldwide. Hamed is the CEO of TEVERRA providing strategic planning, leadership, and technical support for development and commercialization of green and value-add technologies for geothermal energy production and storage. His current technical focus is on sustainable development of geothermal energy and carbon storage projects with advanced geomechanical analysis. Hamed holds a BSc in Mining Engineering, an MSc in Rock Mechanics, and a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Curtin University in Australia. He has published numerous journal and conference papers and has been selected as SPE Distinguished Lecturer three time in 2012, 2017 and 2020.

Julian Lopez 

Chec - EPM

Julian is a Geologist from the Universidad de Caldas with a postgraduate certificate in Environmental Management from the Fundación Universidad del Área Andina. He has been linked to the Valle de Nereidas EPM-CHEC geothermal project since 2006 and, since 2012 he has been the director of the geothermal team in charge of managing from the superficial geothermal exploration work, to the pre-feasibility evaluation of the resource and the direct uses of geothermal energy. Currently he works with the Colombian Geothermal Association AGEOCOL where he serves on the board of directors as Vice President.