Since its inception in 2012, the AGGAT Technical Advisory Board has been committed to driving advances in above ground and allied technologies for the long-term benefit of those involved in the program.

And like any board, recently met at HERA House to reflect on what’s been achieved so far – and what the plans were for the future.

Comprised of representatives from the University of Auckland, AGGAT industry partners ABS and PFS and HERA’s researchers and project management team it was acknowledged the platform has reached a level of maturity and reputation, with the programme now on track to deliver two ORC pilot plants – one using a waste heat source and the other relying on low temperature geothermal brine for heat provision.

Jun222016
aggat-technical-advisory-board
From left: Our Senior Research Engineer Dr Boaz Habib, Research Engineer Dr Lei Chen, General Manager Welding Centre Dr Michail Karpenko, University of Auckland Professor Sadiq Zarrouk, our Director Dr Wolfgang Scholz, General Manager Industry Development Nick Inskip, University of Auckland Professors Mohammed Farid and Brent Young, PFS Engineer David Tokelove and ABS Engineer Tejinder Singh at HERA House.

The AGGAT platform has reached a significant level of maturity now and has increasingly gained a reputation for providing value to HERA members.

Overcoming several technical challenges, it’s expected one of the ORC pilot plants will shortly be ready for the commissioning phase – exciting news for our partner companies who have taken manufacturing and development leads.

Frustratingly, such positive talks were marred by funding challenges with MBIE’s co-funding support due to stop at the end of September. We are confident the programme is strong in technical capability, however Government and industry investment support is crucial to keep the momentum going.

In a bid to address this issue, we’ve undertaken an aggressive campaign to reach out to other funding models and project partners, submitting proposals to varying programmes. And while we wait for news on if any of these were successful – we’ve taken steps to think beyond this hurdle until such a time that further financial support is found.

So far the AGGAT programme has delivered real advances in the research and development of Organic Rankin Cycle (ORC) technology accruing invaluable data that will drive our member’s future ability to enter the geothermal or waste heat market with a cost-effective and competitive product, and continuing this journey is a focus our team continues to pursue.

If you’d like to know more about the what our AGGAT team is up to, or how you could be involved – please contact Boaz Habib on +64 9 262 2885 or via email on boaz.habib@hera.org.nz