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City utility buys two operating geothermal power plants in Munich

City utility buys two operating geothermal power plants in Munich Plant in Kirchstockach, Germany (source: Turboden)
Alexander Richter 29 Sep 2016

Stadtwerke München (SWM), the local energy utility for the city of Munich in Bavaria/ Germany, has bought the two geothermal plants Dürrnhaar and Kirchstockach in the southwest of Munich from its private developers.

Reported by German geothermal news platform Tiefe Geothermie, Stadtwerke München (SWM), the local city energy utility, has bought the two geothermal plants Dürrnhaar and Kirchstockach in the southwest of Munich.

In a statement, the Chairman of the SWM Board, Dr. Florian Bieberbach, said: “We are pleased that we could come to an agreement with HOCHTIEF and BayWa. With these two geothermal plants, the number of our renewable assets in the region alone rises to 43 in total.” With the acquisition, SWM now expands its power generation capacity to 11 MW.

The two plants were put into operation in 2012 and 2013. The previous owner of the plants were the Süddeutsche Geothermie-Projekte GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture of BayWa R.E. and Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH. Both companies have now sold their shares to SWM.

“We are pleased that we have found an experienced and powerful buyer with Stadtwerke München. It shows that our renewable energy portfolio in Germany is interesting, and highlights our strength of building and designing innovative business models, renewable energy systems, and able to re-sell.” said the CEO of BayWa AG, Klaus Josef Lutz,

Technically, the two systems are similar in design as the geothermal plant in Sauerlach only a few kilometers away. All three power plants are from Turboden. In Sauerlach, Stadtwerke München drilled three wells and built a power plant years ago. In the Bavarian Molasse Basin there are today a total of 23 geothermal plants for heating and electricity in operation and four are under construction. With 50 wells they utilise the geothermal potential of the region. The drilling depths range from 700 meters in the north to over 5,000 meters in the south of Munich.

SWM pursues ambitious goals in the energy transition. As part of its energy expansion campaign, SWM accelerates the use of renewable energy use in electricity as well as in the heating sector.

By 2025, SWM will generate sufficient green electricity in the electricity sector, for all energy needs in the city of Munich. With the campaign started in 2008, SWM could soon feed up to 50% of the city’s electricity needs with renewable energy.

In the heating sector, Munich plans to become the first major German city to cover its district heating needs by 100% renewable energy sources.  To realize this vision, SWM puts a primary focus on the development of geothermal energy, as we have reported before.

With geothermal wells in Riem and Freiham delivering geothermal energy to thermal power stations, further drilling at its cogeneration plant in the South are planned. Older existing oil tanks are currently dismantled, showing the spirit of the energy transition.

Soure: TiefeGeothermie.de