Drilling starts for Laufzorn II geothermal heating project in Grünwald, Germany
Ceremony to celebrate the start of drilling of the Laufzon II geothermal heating project in Grünwald, Germany (source: Erdwärme Grünwald GmbH)
Carlo Cariaga
27 May 2025
Drilling operations have officially started for the Laufzorn II geothermal heating plant which seeks to expand geothermal heating coverage in Grünwald, Germany.
Drilling has officially started for the Laufzorn II geothermal heating project in the municipality of Grünwald in Bavaria, Germany. Six boreholes will be drilled, each to depths of 3600 to 4000 meters.
The wells will be used to supply the Laufzorn II geothermal heating plant of local utility Erdwärme Grünwald (EWG). The groundbreaking of the project was held in late 2024. This is part of plans to expand geothermal heating in Grünwald in response to an exceptional growth in demand for clean and stable heating. The utility had already completed work on a new 5-kilometer stretch of district heating pipeline.
Construction of heating plant will commence by 2026. The Laufzorn II project is then expected to be completed by the winter of 2027-2028.
The start of the drilling was celebrated with a “consecration of the drill bit” ceremony. In attendance were about 150 guests. In his speech, Grünwald’s First Mayor Jan Neusiedl emphasized the importance of the event. “The drill bit we are dedicating today and the large construction site we are witnessing here will help ensure that our community will be able to obtain its heat supply entirely from sustainable, CO2-free geothermal energy in the future.”
The existing Laufzorn I geothermal heating plant has been operational since 2011, and was augmented with an ORC unit for electricity generation in 2014. It is also connected to the geothermal heating plant in Unterhaching. The plant has an installed capacity of 40 MWth and 4.3 MWe.
Source: 3R and Energie und Management
