City of Munich sees geothermal heat as treasure to be tapped

The city of Munich (München) in Bavaria/ Germany has ambitious district heating plans, as we have been reporting about before.

By 2040, the city wants to be the first large city a 100% renewable energy fuelled district heating. In these plans, geothermal energy plays a major role, as being described in a recent article by local newspaper Abendzeitung Muenchen.

In the state of Bavaria, the geological nature of the soil is almost ideal for geothermal. Especially in the Southern German Molasse Basin, stretching from the Danube to the Alps, the conditions are favorable, as there is here especially hot water at the relevant depths. Much of southern Bavaria is located on the layers of the so-called Malm: There are porous, karst and therefore particularly permeable rock layers. 

Starting about 15 years ago, geothermal projects have been developed in the region around the city. The pioneer was the city of Unterhaching with a combined geothermal heat and power plant being developed. Not without its challenges, the project provided a great experience not only for the city itself, but also engineers working on the project and other municipalities in the region.

But not only small communities are looking to tap the energy from underneath. Munich is – like no other city – betting big on geothermal energy on large scale.

In November last year, white trucks drove through the city to conduct seismic surveys of the subsurface. Now the city is planning to start drilling in 2018 to depths of 4,000 meters, with preparations to start this fall. So things are happening in Munich.

For learning more about the city’s ambitions and other geothermal projects and plants around Munich, attend the Praxisforum Geothermie Bayern, to be held in Munich, Oct. 5-6, 2016.

Source: Abendzeitung Muenchen