Drilling to commence for geothermal heating project in the Netherlands
Drilling rig on site in the Netherlands (source: Daldrup & Söhne AG)
Alexander Richter
31 Oct 2016
Utilising a new risk insurance scheme, German geothermal firm Daldrup & Söhne AG will be drilling a well for a geothermal heating project in the South Holland province of the Netherlands.
Geothermal company, Daldrup & Söhne AG has announced having received a drilling contract in the Netherlands. The drilling is to be conducted for a geothermal direct use project that will provide heat for greenhouse operations.
Results of an earlier drilled test well were successful, confirming higher than expected results.
Daldrup & Söhne AG wants to tap hot thermal water in the Dutch drilling project Nature’s Heat in the municipality of Kwintsheul in the province of South Holland. According to Daldrup & Söhne, the capacity is at least 110 liters per second and the temperature of the thermal water is around 86 degrees Celsius. This value is well above the projected average value.
20 MW thermal instead of 12 MW thermal power possible
Experts had expected only 60 liters per second. In the future, the operators will be able to use around 20 MW of thermal energy instead of the calculated 12 MW thermal for their greenhouses. With the large amount of thermal water, the approximately 1.2-fold volume of natural gas is fed in parallel as a by-product. This gas will be separated and used by third parties to generate electricity. The overall project has an above-average efficiency due to these in-depth specifications.
Daldrup is an Engineering Procurement-Construction (EPC) contractor of Nature’s Heat B.V., Kwintsheul, that is responsible for the drilling of the well at a depth of approximately 3,000 meters. In addition, Daldrup is to set up the heating center and the district heating distribution network. Nature’s Heat is a group of ten greenhouse operators in the South Holland region. The greenhouse operators are simultaneously heat consumers.
Novelty exploration risk insurance is used
In this project, Daldrup & Söhne AG has applied for the first time a new integrated insurance model (alternative risk transfer (ART) concept) that also includes assurances as part of a reinsurance structure. Thus, such geothermal drilling and energy projects can be financed through leverage at an early stage in the project. Nature’s Heat finances the geothermal energy project largely through an international Dutch bank.
Source: IWR.de
