Drilling for geothermal project in Hamburg to start this summer
Concept overview for geothermal project (source: Hamburg Energie)
Alexander Richter
25 Feb 2021
The planned geothermal heating project in Hamburg is looking to start drilling this summer.
The harbour city of Hamburg in Germany has been eyeing the use of geothermal energy for more than ten years. Now things are becoming more concrete, as drilling could start as early as this summer, so local news station NDR.
Water with a temperature of 130 degrees is to be brought to the surface from a depth of around 3,500 meters. There, energy is supposed to get into households with the help of a heat exchanger. The cooled water is fed back into the ground, as the managing director of Hamburg Energie, Michael Prinz, explained this week.
Around 5,000 apartments that are being built in the Spreehafenviertel, the Elbinselquartier and the Wilhelmsburger Rathausviertel could be supplied with heat in this way. Gradually, existing houses and apartments will be added. Depending on the thermal power actually available, electricity could also be produced.
The project should be finished in 2023/24. Prinz put the investment including all systems and an aquifer at around EUR 76 million, with the federal government funding the project with EUR 22.5 million. The geothermal system is at the heart of the “IW3 – Integrated Heat Transition Wilhelmsburg” project.
Environment Senator Jens Kerstan (Greens) spoke of a milestone in the heating transition in Hamburg. He said: “The point is actually to use almost inexhaustible heat from the earth’s interior at very affordable prices for the long term to heat apartments.” This is a great opportunity to get out of coal faster and to achieve the climate goals. If the Wilhelmsburg project is successful, it could become a blueprint for the environmentally friendly supply of geothermal energy in northern Germany.
Source: NDR
