Delft, Netherlands geothermal project secures €50 million financing
The Geothermie Delft project in the Netherlands has signed a €50 million financing agreement for the construction of a heat pump plant for the geothermal site.
The Geothermie Delft (GTD) project at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands has signed a €50 million financing agreement with Rabobank and the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank. This investment will go toward the surface facilities associated with the project, including the heat pump plant.
Geothermie Delft is a project by partners Shell Geothermal, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN), TU Delft, and Aardyn. The project will serve as a research facility to gather data that will reduce the risk of future geothermal projects. It will also soon supply geothermal heat to buildings on the TU Delft campus and households in the Delft districts of Voorhof and Buitenhof.
In late 2023, the project reported the completion of drilling of a geothermal doublet. Core samples were also collected from the wells, which successfully penetrated the Delft Sandstone formation and tapped into a geothermal resource with temperature of 78 °C. Since then, work had already started on the construction of a heat pump plant.
The financing by Rabobank and the Dutch Water Board Bank underlines that geothermal energy is a solid investment category within the sustainable energy sector. This project proves that geothermal heat is not only technically and operationally feasible in the built environment, but also financeable within the regular banking sector.
“This transaction demonstrates that renewable heat projects can fully compete with other large-scale energy investments,” said Rass Butt, Managing Director of GTD. “The confidence of institutional financiers confirms that geothermal energy is a robust solution within the energy transition.”
For Rabobank and the Dutch Water Board Bank, this investment means a strengthening of their sustainable portfolio. By providing capital to infrastructure projects that contribute to climate goals, they strengthen their position in financing the energy transition.
Source: Geothermie Delft
