Drilling underway on 32 MW geothermal heating project in Viborg, Denmark
Viborg, Jutland in Denmark (source: flickr/pe_ma, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
21 Feb 2012
Drilling is underway for a 32 MW geothermal heating plant close to Viborg, Jutland in Denmark that is to supply heat to about 16,600 customers. Drilling is expected to reach a geothermal reservoir with a temperature of about 73 centigrades at a depth of 3,000 meters.
Over the past years, ThinkGeoEnergy hasn’t reported as much on geothermal district heating projects. So despite a bit late, I would like to quickly report on a geothermal district heating project in Vilborg, Denmark.
The project, with a 32 MW thermal plant at Kvols, close to Viborg, is expected to provide heating to 16,600 households in the area, with a total of about 32 km of supply pipes to neighboring communities. Closer communities will be able to cover about 90% of their heating consumption, while customers in communities a bit further will only be able to cover 50-60%.
The project was initially put together in 2010, with planning done in 2011. Now in January 2012, an open house was organized to show potential customers what is planned. The same month, German geothermal drilling company Hekla Energy was contracted to conduct the drilling. The company is a daughter company fo Icelandic geothermal drilling company Iceland Drilling. Drilling started in January and is expected to reach a depth of about 3,000 meters.
“The maximum production of the geothermal plant is 32 MW of geothermal heat. The water temperature in the reservoir is expected to be 75°C and therefore the geothermal water will be exchanged to district heating water with a temperature of app. 73°C in the surface plant, located in the city of Kvols. This water can be used directly in the connection points, without use of heat pumps.”
Denmark has today two geothermal heating plants in operation, in Thisted and in the nation’s capital Copenhagen. A third plant in Sonderberg is expected to come into operation in 2012.
More details about Denmark’s geothermal activities via: www.geotermi.dk (in Danish)
Source: Viborg Geotermi (in Danish), Iceland Drilling
