Sponsored by CIAT, the MICRO-GEO project, accredited by the TENERRDIS competitive cluster, was selected by the thirteenth call for projects of the FUI (government agency funding industrial R&D projects). The flagship project will be working on engineering an integrated heat pump/geothermal probe system for the low energy consumption home market. MICRO-GEO originally took off under a work group on the development of the low energy geothermal sector in Rhone-Alps, set up by the cluster in 2010. The project is important for the region as it brings together 80% of the industrial stakeholders and French research centers in this field. Indeed, the project alone could create some 140 jobs locally and twice that nationally.
MICRO-GEO goal is to offer the market a solution that can ensure three main uses: domestic hot water, heating and cooling, without resorting to another renewable energy, for less than 10,000 euros (inclusive of tax). So innovations involving sensors as well as the components for heat pumps and the regulation of the entire system are needed. Considering the thermal regulations from the Grenelle Environment Forum, MICRO-GEO will contribute to positioning geothermal energy on the positive energy building market targeted in 2020.