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New geothermal heating plant to start near Paris, France

New geothermal heating plant to start near Paris, France View from Notre Dame over Paris (source: flickr/ Clarissa Peterson, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 19 Sep 2017

A new geothermal district heating system is about to start in the southeast of Paris, France supplying heat to residences, schools and swimming pools.

A  new geothermal heating system is expected to enter into service in late October and provide hot water and heating to public and public buildings, including a local high school, college and swimming pool.

The project Dammarie-les-Lys started drilling in January this year. After the drilling of two wells on the Pouvreau mall in 80 days, the heating plant has just been built. The system will be commissioned at the end of October, according to Bruno Carmona, head of department at Geodalys (Engie Réseaux), after carrying out several levels of tests.

The wells take water with a temperature of 73 degrees Celsius at a depth of 1,900 meters in a geological formation called the dogger. Five kilometer of piping will provide hot water and heating to 3,500 housing equivalents, including public buildings such as a high school, college and swimming pool.

“Dammarie does not count 100% on geothermal energy. This will ensure on average 85% of the heating year, the rest from the gas of a renovated boiler room, “says Bruno Carmona. In summer, period without heating, geothermal energy will provide 100% of the necessary heat.

The municipality decided on the project in 2015 based on economic and ecological reasons. With a heating system based more than 50% on renewable energy, the city saves VAT, which goes from 20% to 5.5%. With this the costs for the system decreases, which will be able to be passed to tenants. At the same time geothermal as a source for heating makes the system less dependent on fluctuations of the market.

Furthermore the system does not produce any emissions, odors or noise during operation and will save about 7,00 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to gas, equivalent to the emissions of 3,800 vehicles in one year.

Source: Le Parisien