The State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany has earmarked EUR 18.8 million to fund the expansion of the geothermal heating and cooling system of the Steinfurt campus of the Münster University of Applied Sciences. This will allow the supply of geothermal heating and cooling to more university buildings, while providing a heat pump facility that can be used for teaching and research.
The funds will come from the North Rhine-Westphalia Plan for Good Infrastructure. The construction project will be implemented jointly with the Building and Real Estate Management Agency (BLB) of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2023, the first geothermal borehole was drilled to 150 meters at the Steinfurt Technology Campus of the university. The borehole, which maintains a constant temperature of 12 ºC, currently supplies the Laboratory for Measurement, Control, and Regulation Technology, as well as a large experimental ventilation system. The output of the geothermal system will now be significantly expanded by deepening the borehole to 250 meters. Moreover, 80 geothermal probes will be installed in addition to the 37 that are already in place.
As explained by Prof. Dr. Frank Dellmann, President of Münster University of Applied Sciences, explains, geothermal will eventually supply around 64% of the total heating demand of the university buildings. This makes the university a climate-neutral location for the training of skilled works in key technologies and contributes towards the NRW’s climate-neutrality goals.
The energy park also serves as a real-world laboratory where aspiring engineers can see the performance of the heat pumps in real time, and monitor downhole data on the geothermal probes. This strengthens the institution’s technical programs and demonstrates what the future of skilled worker development can look like.
With a total of EUR 60 billion over the next twelve years, NRW’s plan for good infrastructure is the largest investment program in the state’s history. From this amount, EUR 2.3 billion will go towards investments that address key future challenges and reinforce the NRW’s research and science capabilities.
As part of the NRW Geothermal Master Plan, geothermal research drilling is currently also ongoing at the Dellbrück district of Cologne. The research drilling activities seek to improve understanding of the subsurface in NRW, and whether specific subsurface formations are suitable as geothermal reservoirs.
