Apply now for the Christian Hecht Award 2024!

For the seventh time, the Christian Hecht Award for the best young scientific work on deep geothermal energy will be presented as part of the Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern 2024.

Students and PhD students often provide current and innovative impulses for applied geothermal practice with their work. This is recognised by the Christian Hecht Award, which will be presented for the seventh time at the Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern. The industry event will take place from 16 to 18 October 2024 at the Bürgerhaus Pullach im Isartal.

The prize, which is awarded by the organiser Enerchange, honours young scientists who are researching application-oriented topics relating to deep geothermal energy. The work should be focussed on the Bavarian Molasse Basin and/or the Upper Rhine Graben. Both areas are geologically highly interesting for deep geothermal energy.

Application criteria
Applications are open to Master's students and doctoral candidates who are researching topics relevant to deep geothermal energy. They should have already completed the thesis or have carried out research work that has led to reliable results. However, the master's or PhD thesis should not be completed before 2023.

The application deadline is 13 September 2024 and should include an abstract (approx. 3,000 characters) that briefly presents the work and the results, as well as a CV. This can be sent by email to agentur@enerchange.de. The Christian Hecht Award will be decided by a jury consisting of scientists and industry representatives.

In addition to free admission to the Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern, the winner will receive an attractive prize money and the opportunity to present their work to renowned representatives and companies from the geothermal industry at the award ceremony on 17 October, the day of the congress. There is also the opportunity to give a presentation as part of a webinar with international reach for the best and second-best work.

Previous winners

2023: Christopher Schifflechner

The winner of the Christian Hecht Award 2023 is Christopher Schifflechner with his work on ‘Efficient and flexible geothermal systems for the joint provision of electricity, heating and cooling’. The thesis was written as part of his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). It deals with the increasing importance of additional cooling generation through environmentally friendly and efficient sorption chillers in conjunction with deep geothermal energy, whereby new challenges in the integration into joint heating and cooling projects were identified and thermo-economically evaluated.

‘The award-winning work analyses the diverse possibilities for using geothermal heat. The work compares and optimises various operating strategies,’ said Dr Christian Pletl from Stadtwerke München in his laudatory speech.

2022: Felix Schölderle

In 2022, Felix Schölderle received the award for his work ‘Fibre-optic monitoring in a deep geothermal production well in the Upper Jurassic aquifer in southern Germany: results from standstill, under injection conditions and during production’. He completed his doctorate at the Chair of Hydrogeology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and his work accompanied the installation of a fibre optic cable in a deep geothermal well, which can be used to obtain extensive data.

2021: Matthäus Irl & Sebastian Eyerer
In 2021, two young scientists were recognised with the Christian Hecht Award. Matthäus Irl is a researcher at the Technical University of Munich and is working on his doctoral thesis on the analysis and optimisation of the operation of deep hydrothermal geothermal plants with electricity and heat supply. Sebastian Eyerer also completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich and has developed an exciting approach to improving the ORC cycle by experimentally analysing the working equipment and plant architecture.

2020: Elena Spitzmüller
In 2020, Elena Spitzmüller from KIT showed with her work ‘Thermal water treatment for raw material extraction: reduction of SiO2 concentration’ how lithium extraction in geothermal plants could be used to combine climate-friendly energy generation with electromobility. She researched innovative processes for extracting this important raw material.

2019: Florian Heine

In 2019, Florian Heine convinced the jury with his work ‘Hydro- and isotope-chemical characterisation of the Upper Jurassic thermal water reservoir in the Bavarian Molasse Basin’.

2018: Elena Mraz

In 2018, the award went to Elena Mraz for her work on reservoir characterisation to improve exploration concepts in the Upper Jurassic of the southern Bavarian Molasse Basin.