SPE Western Regional Meeting 2025
There will be technical papers on geothermal topics. We are honored to announce that Ms. Anine Pedersen (Geothermal Rising's Director of Science) is our special invited speaker for the Geothermal Technical Session.

The Cooling Down Special School, taking place on 6 February 2025, will gather industry leaders, engineers, policymakers, researchers, and professionals to explore solutions that are shaping the future of cooling in the context of climate change and energy efficiency. Join us for a virtual event showcasing the latest advancements and innovations in sustainable cooling technologies from across Europe.
What to Expect:
COOLING DOWN Project
COOLING DOWN seeks to propose a vision for a renewable cooling sector in Europe in the coming decades, and issue policy recommendations and proposals to achieve it. Beyond the technological, economic, and social trends to be assessed through research, expert consultations and modelling, the COOLING DOWN project will also be seeking to address the contribution of renewable cooling technologies to climate change adaptation with a specific focus on the mitigation of the urban heat island effect. The COOLING DOWN project has received funding from the European Union under grant agreement 101077140 — LIFE21-CET-COOLING-COOLING DOWN. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Papers will be presented on recent research relating to geothermal reservoirs including:
This 8-hour presentation is designed to help renewable energy professionals deepen their understanding of how to build respectful and meaningful partnerships with Tribal Nations. Collaborating with Tribes requires an approach grounded in respect for Tribal sovereignty, cultural awareness, and a commitment to honoring the distinct histories and perspectives of Native communities.
Instructors will draw from the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy’s 20-hour training program, Pathways to Trust: A Learning Journey Towards Equitable Tribal Partnerships, to provide an introduction to the values and principles necessary to develop a foundation of trust with Tribal partners and customers. Participants will learn why it is essential to approach these relationships with humility and respect and gain a basic understanding of the legal complexities and cultural nuances that shape Tribal engagement. This training offers an invitation to begin building relationships based on mutual understanding and shared purpose in renewable energy development.
Why Attend the Workshop?
Workshop Co-Hosted By:
About the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy
The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is an Indigenous-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Native American tribes in their self-determined transition to clean energy. Through no-cost technical and financial assistance, policy advocacy, education and workforce development support, and impactful convening and events, the Alliance supports tribes in advancing economic development, combating climate change, and strengthening sovereignty with the regenerative power of clean energy.
The critical work of the Alliance is fully supported by philanthropy, including the MacArthur Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Blank Foundation, Invest in Our Future Fund, The Lemelson Foundation, Energy Foundation, and other major philanthropies, family offices, and individual donors.
About the Cultural Training Program
The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is honored to welcome attendees to our new Cultural Training Program in conjunctional with the Geothermal Opportunities Symposium. This training is designed to enhance understanding, collaboration, and alignment with Tribal Nations' cultural values in the clean energy sector. While this training provides valuable insights and demonstrates a commitment to cultural competence, it does not replace steps required for onboarding the Preferred Provider Program. Participants must complete an application (also found in the link), and an introductory meeting which leads to a provisional status in the program. This training does fulfill a partial requirement of the first phase post-onboarding.
Those seeking to do work with Tribes or influence Tribal lands are encouraged to attend the Alliance's cultural training, where you will learn best practices to foster meaningful partnerships with Tribal Nations.
Workshop Overview:
The workshop aims to equip participants with the necessary tools for exploratory statistical analysis relevant to geothermal exploration and production. Through a combination of theoretical concepts and practical exercises, participants will learn to conduct statistical analysis on various datasets, and gain proficiency in creating 2D and 3D statistical models using industry-standard python packages
The instructors will be Dr. Cary Lindsey from the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy (GBCGE) at the University of Nevada Reno and Dr. Whittney Trainor-Guitton from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Cary has a PhD in Geology from the University of Idaho where her primary focus was geostatistical modeling of shallow geothermal systems in Yellowstone National Park and the Great Basin, Western United States. She completed a postdoc at UNR and was a USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow working on machine learning for geothermal resource assessment. She is now a research scientist at the GBCGE focused on improving exploration techniques for geothermal resources. Most of her time is spent on the DOE funded INnovative Geothermal Exploration through Novel Investigations Of Undiscovered Systems (INGENIOUS) project and geothermal outreach.
Whitney Trainor-Guitton is a quantitative geoscientist with a demonstrated history of working in the subsurface and remote-sensing research and development and higher education. Whitney is experienced in blending data science, spatial statistics and geophysical inversion, and specializes in geostatistics, geophysics, geothermal exploration, carbon dioxide sequestration monitoring, inverse problems, and deep learning. She earned her doctorate focused on Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. She has also served as a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines doing research and development in statistical learning applied to distributed acoustic sensing, angle versus offset seismic data and screen out pressure data. She worked on optical satellite imagery with Google Earth Engine while a contractor at TotalEnergies. Starting at Zanskar and currently at NREL, Whitney is advancing play fairways analysis for discovery of hidden geothermal systems, using value of information and spatial statistics.
Workshop Information:
Agenda:
Day 1: August 8th
Introduction to Google Colab
Day 2: August 9th
Location:
Zoom virtual meeting. The sessions will be recorded and provided to those that register.
Who Should Attend:
Higher level Geoscience and engineering students (Jr/Senior undergraduate, Graduate students, early career). Also open to later career professionals.
Cost:
Participating Organizations:
For the first time, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Geothermal Rising are bringing together geothermal, critical minerals and gases to explore the connections between them, either in the formation of the reservoirs or reserves, or in exploring for, evaluating, and producing them. Specifically, the conference will bring together geothermal, lithium, geologic hydrogen, helium, iodine, and more in the form of technical presentations, probing panel discussions, poster sessions, and more.
Schedule:
Thursday, 6 June 2024, 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM (CDT)
Friday, 7 June 2024, 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM PM (CDT)
Registration fee includes continental breakfast, coffee breaks, buffet lunch and end-of-day reception on Thursday.
Join Geothermal Rising (GR), the Colorado Energy Office (CEO), and the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) to foster networking across the heating and cooling segment of the geothermal industry. This workshop will provide generalized feedback on the status of the industry in Colorado -- challenges, barriers, opportunities, resources. We are also excited to have Governor Jared Polis provide welcome remarks to attendees.
The workshop will explore:
Part of this workshop will inform the first annual CEO Geothermal Sector Survey themes, questions, and process. There will also be a tour of the Denver Pipefitters Local #208 facility and apprenticeship programs.
As a workshop attendee you will gain valuable intel on the status of the industry and its trends, help the CEO firm up geothermal stakeholders for ongoing communications, better understand the CEO and industry opportunities to support engagement, facilitate and promote the workforce transition into the geothermal industry, and help the CEO improve the Geothermal Sector Survey for the State of Colorado.
This is a hybrid event, virtual participation and feedback is welcome.
Geothermal Rising and BiaTech Corporation are partnering once again on this workshop to seek to answer the question: How do we extend the life of existing geothermal power plants?
If new geothermal plant construction takes 6 to 8 years to site, fund, permit, construct, connect to the grid and commission, the near-term opportunity for geothermal’s unique base-load renewable power is to produce more from plants we have and extend their life. We live in a disposable culture with solar and wind also challenged to extend life versus scrap and replace. How does geothermal disrupt the disposable cultural mindset?
Workshop attendees will join the facilitators and speakers for a common purpose:
Participants will have actionable take aways:
The workshop follows Chatham House Rule – participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker, nor that of any other participant, may be shared. This is intended to bring people together, break down barriers, generate ideas that can help the industry grow and agree on likely solutions.
The workshop will be at the Fidel Center on the campus of New Mexico Tech in Socorro, NM. The workshop is free, and breakfast and lunch will be provided for in-person participants. A virtual option is also available. The meeting is timed to coincide with the NM Geological Society annual spring meeting on April 19, which this year is focused on renewable energy development in New Mexico. The NMGS meeting will also be on the NM Tech campus at Macey Center.
Agenda
The workshop will include presentations and panel discussions designed to urge utilities to incorporate thermal storage networks and geothermal power plants into their alternative energy portfolios, encourage New Mexico tribes and pueblos to develop direct use projects, and inspire the oil industry to be involved in advancing geothermal energy development in New Mexico. We will also consider technical aspects of development and policy, economic, and regulatory issues. The goal is to craft a plan for forming partnerships and accelerating geothermal development in the Land of Enchantment.
For more information or to register, please contact Shari Kelley.
Geothermal Rising and BiaTech Corporation are partnering on this workshop to seek to answer the question: How do we extend the life of existing geothermal power plants?
If new geothermal plant construction takes 6 to 8 years to site, fund, permit, construct, connect to the grid and commission, the near-term opportunity for geothermal’s unique base-load renewable power is to produce more from plants we have and extend their life. We live in a disposable culture with solar and wind also challenged to extend life versus scrap and replace. How does geothermal disrupt the disposable cultural mindset?
Workshop attendees will be joined the facilitators and speakers for a common purpose:
Participants will have actionable take aways:
The workshop follows Chatham House Rule – participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker, nor that of any other participant, may be shared. This is intended to bring people together, break down barriers, generate ideas that can help the industry grow and agree on likely solutions.