Diego Morata

Centro de Excelencia en Geotermia de Los Andes (CEGA)
Director

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Diego Morata, geologist (1988) and PhD in Geology (1993) by the University of Granada (Spain). After five years (1994-1998) working in the University of Cádiz (Spain) he finally moved by 1998 to the Department of Geology et the University of Chile, place of work up to now. In 2010 he obtained the Full Professor category in the University of Chile and from 2011 to present, he is the Director of the Andean Geothermal Center of Excellence (CEGA). His main research topics are in the geochemical and mineralogical processes related to heat-fluid-rock interactions. He has published more than 110 WoS (ex-ISI) papers, presented his results in more than 100 conferences and directed or co-directed more than 30 research projects granted by international and national public agencies. From last 10 years, his main research interest has moved to the geothermal energy, leading several research and applied projects in Chile, both for high-enthalpy systems as for direct use. He also trained several undergrad and post-graduate students and supervised several post-doctoral researchers. From 2013 to present is member of the editorial board in the international journal Geothermal Energy and from 2016 to 2020 he was member of the International Geothermal Association (IGA) board of directors. He obtained several grants by Chilean regional governments and Chilean Ministry of Energy aimed to develop pilot projects of geothermal direct use for heating school and greenhouses in Southern Chile. He also promotes outreach and diffusion of geothermal energy to society and communities.