Unlocking Geothermal Potential: Perspectives from New Zealand and Germany

Aimee Chu is a Senior Policy Advisor within the Resource Markets group at the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Aimee has been involved in developing the New Zealand Government’s Geothermal Strategy and is now involved in monitoring implementation of the Strategy.

Hon. Tim Groser chairs the New Zealand Government Advisory Group on Supercritical Geothermal Energy, known as the GeoShot Project. A former Minister of Trade, Minister Responsible for Climate Change Issues and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, he also served as New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States from 2016 to 2019. 

Earlier in his career, he held several senior trade and diplomatic roles, including Chair of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Group and New Zealand's Chief Trade Negotiator during the Uruguay Round. 

Mrs Kennie Tsui joined the New Zealand Geothermal Association as Chief Executive Officer in July 2021. Prior to this, she was the Principal Analyst at the New Zealand Climate Change Commission, and was heavily involved with developing the independent report “Ināia tonu nei: a low emissions future for Aotearoa”. Tabled in Parliament in June 2021, this report provided recommendations to the Government on climate change actions in New Zealand. 

She has also held previous positions at various government departments including the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. A professional chemical and process engineer by training, and also holding an Master of Business Administration (MBA) qualification, Kennie has a wealth of knowledge across the energy sector built during her professional roles. 

She also holds a number of directorships in New Zealand in innovation, tourism, engineering and regional economic development sectors. 

In January 2025, Kennie Tsui was recognised as the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the New Zealand royal honours system for her service in environment and governance. 

Hayden Mackenzie is the Head of Energy Investment at Invest NZ – New Zealand’s foreign direct investment agency. Hayden focuses on the attraction and acceleration of investment into energy and industrial projects in New Zealand. 

Hayden supports New Zealand businesses in their investment preparation and works closely with investors and developers from across the world to smooth their entry to New Zealand. 

In his career prior to joining Invest NZ, Hayden worked as an exploration geologist in New Zealand, Indonesia, and Canada before transitioning into venture capital. 

Hayden holds a BSc in Geology and MSc in Engineering Geology from the University of Canterbury, Master of Legal Studies from the University of Auckland, and an MBA from the University of British Columbia. 

Dr Alexander Olenberg has served as a policy officer at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) since May 2026. He works in Division IIC2 on energy research and market uptake, with a focus on geothermal energy and hydrogen. 

Before joining the BMWE, he worked as a research associate at Project Management Jülich, where he focused on geothermal energy. He holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and completed a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and Fluid Process Engineering at Paderborn University in 2021. 

Sarah Borufka has been with the German Geothermal Association since March 2023, where she heads the Communications Department. She completed her journalistic training at the Axel Springer Academy in Berlin after working in New Orleans, New York and Prague. Before joining the Association, she worked for newspapers, as a freelance journalist, as an editor and as a co-author of biographical non-fiction books. 

Speaker bio coming soon.

Wolfgang Klink is  a Senior Engineer Decarb Solutions and currently the Product Manager ORC Solutions and Business Owner for geothermal ORC power plants at Siemens Energy in Erlangen, Germany. 

He has already worked for more than 25 years for Siemens Energy in different functions and responsibilities. From 1997 to 2007 Mr. Klink worked as Proposal Manager and later Head of Proposals for turnkey utility steam power plants, all kind of industrial power plants, e.g. steam power plants, combined cycle power plants, biomass power plants. From 2007 to 2020 he managed different engineering departments like industrial steam turbine generator sets, ORC systems. Since 2020, Mr. Klink has been working as Product Manager ORC solutions as well as other decarbonization systems, like Waste Heat Recovery, industrial heat pumps.