Start of operation of Sauerlach combined heat and power plant
Sauerlach plant, Bavaria, Germany (source: Turboden)
Alexander Richter
31 Jan 2014
The combined geothermal heat and power plant in Sauerlach has started commercial operation, providing the city of Munich with geothermal power and the local community with a geothermal heating option.
Announced earlier this week, the City utility of Munich (Stadtwerke Muenchen) has started the commercial operation of its combined heat and power geothermal plant in Sauerland, Bavaria.
The plant supplies around 16,000 households in the city of Munich with geothermal power and provides the inhabitants of Sauerlach with the option to connect to geothermal district heating.
This is the second big investment into geothermal by the utility. Since 2004, he utility provides around 88 percent of the heat supply for the city of Riem with the geothermal heating plant there.
The Sauerlach plant providing heating and power, derives water with a temperature of around 140 degrees Celsius from wells with a depth of ca. 5,000 meters.
The plant was provided by Italian Turboden, a daughter company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
In a short statement, Roberto Bini, general Manager – Technical Area of Turboden, said: “We are proud to have been working on this 5MW geothermal project, providing our technology. The realization of this geothermal cogenerative plant is a further proof of the company commitment to innovation and performance improvement in ORC.”
Today there are around 19 geothermal installations in the state of Bavaria, most of them in the Munich region. They provide both heat and power.
Source: Wirtschaftsforum Geothermie, gec-co Global Engineering & Consulting (by email)
