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KIT publishes Geothermal Energy Development Guide (in German only)

KIT publishes Geothermal Energy Development Guide (in German only) Bruchsal geothermal power plant, Germany (source: EnBW)
Alexander Richter 5 Jan 2018

A new guideline document has been published providing a detailed overview on the requirements for the development of deep geothermal energy projects in Germany with a focus on projects utilising geothermal energy for heat applications. So far the report is only available in German.

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany has published a new geothermal development guide “How does the heat come to the surface”. The guideline document unfortunately is available only in German at the moment. The document was released in October 2017.

Geothermal energy as an energy source links the sustainability of renewable energies with the security of supply of conventional power plants. However, reliably sourcing heat at a depth of several hundred meters poses a technical challenge. The safe use of geothermal energy requires detailed planning and monitoring. The guide published now looks into “Deep geothermal energy” of the state of Baden-Württemberg, which has been issued by an international working group under the direction of KIT.

The development guide describes the entire process from planning through completion, to the operation of a deep geothermal plant – including technical and licensing aspects as well as stakeholder engagement and nature conservation.

“The action guide contributes to the early involvement of citizens and thus creates transparency and trust,” says coordinator Ingrid Stober of the Institute for Applied Geosciences of KIT. The focus of the guidelines is primarily on heat production through deep geothermal energy. The structure of the guideline reflects the sequence of actions in chronological order – from the preliminary study to the feasibility study, the preparatory work, the development phases, the trial operation, continuous operation and decommissioning. With the action guide Deep Geothermal Energy a handout for all directly or indirectly involved in a project is created, which clearly shows when which process steps in a project process are necessary and in which form and temporal staggering these occur.

The report is available here (pdf).

Source: EE News