Getech, the geoenergy and green hydrogen company, is continuing to grow its decarbonisation capabilities with the appointment of Laurent Le Mée into the new role of Director of Business Development for Geothermal.
Based in Paris, with decades of international subsurface experience, Mr Le Mée will support Getech’s ambition to establish over 500MW of new geoenergy and green hydrogen assets by 2030, recognising the significant potential of geothermal as a highly reliable source of renewable energy.
Getech’s data and products, such as Heat Seeker™, are used to identify prospective commercial geothermal opportunities and reduce their development costs, thereby increasing profit margins and value. Leveraging these platforms, expertise and strategic partnerships, Getech is also working to establish its own portfolio of geothermal development projects.
Getech CEO, Dr Jonathan Copus, commented: “We are very pleased to welcome Laurent to our business development team, where his focus will be to drive Getech’s growth in the exciting and rapidly expanding geothermal sector.
Geothermal’s widespread availability, and its capacity to deliver both baseload and dispatchable energy, makes it a powerful tool for global decarbonisation. Investment in geothermal is forecast to grow by more than 160% between 2020 and 20301 , and the European Commission estimates that 25% of Europe’s population could cost-effectively deploy geothermal heating and c.10% of Europe’s power could come from geothermal plants2 .
Getech is well positioned to capitalise on this exciting potential and, to drive growth, we are investing in our geothermal team in Europe and beyond. By leveraging our industry-leading geoscience data, proprietary geospatial software and energy expertise, we are working to accelerate the expansion of geothermal energy, a secure and sustainable energy source.
We also believe that the geothermal industry will become a key player in the production of lithium – through mineral extraction from geothermal fluids. By combining our geothermal and critical mineral expertise, we are using Getech data and software to identify optimal locations for combined geothermal energy and lithium production. This highlights our role in the diverse range of geoenergy solutions required to drive the energy transition, which places Getech in a unique and strong position to unlock transformational value.”
Mr Le Mée has a PhD in geochemistry and began his career as a geology professor before transitioning into oil and gas. He worked for several international oil and gas companies in upstream roles over 15 years and gained a further diploma in geothermal, from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
Mr Le Mée said: “The potential for geothermal energy is hugely undervalued. It is accessible everywhere in the world and can be an ideal baseload energy source. Getech has built a formidable reputation in this field with solutions that are helping to locate the best sites for geothermal development and I’m looking forward to working with the business to realise this potential for the low carbon energy mix.”