Dr. Desikan Bharathan, a principal engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been recognized with a GEA Honors Award by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA).
The awards program gives special recognition to companies and individuals who have made notable achievements toward the advancement of geothermal energy technology, economic development or environmental protection. Bharathan will receive this award during the GEA National Geothermal Summit Awards Dinner on Aug. 7 in Sacramento, Calif.
An NREL employee since 1980, Bharathan is being recognized for his work at NREL in the researching, developing and deploying revolutionary condenser technology that has improved the efficiency of geothermal energy production.
Bharathan was the principal investigator for research on direct-contact heat exchangers for the production and condensation of low-pressure steam in ocean thermal and geothermal energy conversion systems. He managed and directed the research operations as well as supervised and mentored a number of junior engineers and technicians in the process.
“I am honored to be recognized for this work by the Geothermal Energy Association,” Bharathan said. “We are proud that the work our team here at NREL is doing is acknowledged by our peers as being on the cutting edge of geothermal energy R&D.”
Bharathan is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), is named in six patents and has published more than 50 technical papers and reports. He holds degrees in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras, India) and the University of Virginia.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
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