GeoBrain receives Bridge's support for pilot projects
© 2019 EPFL
The GeoBrain tool uses Machine Learning techniques to optimize shallow geothermal systems, a technology that is rapidly expanding in Switzerland and around the world. The support from BRIDGE will allow for the realisation of pilot projects in collaboration with major industrial partners such as Romande Energie, Energo and Viessmann.
While shallow geothermal energy represents one of the most dynamic growing industries in the renewable energy market, especially in Switzerland (world leader in terms of density of installations), ensuring the optimised lifetime of those systems in their real operating conditions remains a challenge. The GeoBrain tool uses innovative Machine Learning techniques to supervise and optimise the performance of those systems during their operation and ensure both their energy efficiency and sustainability.
The GeoBrain tool was initially developed at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics under the initiative of Benoît Cousin, Profs. Lyesse Laloui et Alessandro Rotta Loria and benefitted from the support of Enable (EPFL) and InnoSeed (ENAC). The BRIDGE programme, led by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Innosuisse (the Swiss Innovation Agency), promotes start-up projects at the crossroads between basic research and science-based innovation.