Eavor and Enex break ground on geothermal project in Geretsried, Germany
Drilling rig on project site of Geretsried, Bavaria/ Germany (source: Enex)
Carlo Cariaga
28 Oct 2022
The groundbreaking ceremony signals the start of the work in the Geretsried geothermal project in Bavaria, Germany being developed by Eavor and Enex.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the geothermal project in Geretsried, Germany by companies Eavor Technologies Inc. and Enex Power Germany GmbH. In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony were Bundestag member Alexander Radwan, district administrator Josed Niedermaier, mayors from the neighboring communities, and representatives from investors and construction companies.
“Geothermal energy is a marathon, but in Gelting we often had the feeling that it was more of an Iron Man. Only so far without the part with the water,” said Eavor Managing Director Andreas Gahr. This summarizes the history of this geothermal project in Gelting which was originally granted to Enex back in 2004. Two exploratory wells were drilled on the site but neither produced enough flow to support the economic development of the project.
However, the wells confirmed a high geothermal gradient that could be suitable for the Eavor-Loop technology. The plan now is to drill a total of four heat loops that will be connected to each other about 5000 meters below the ground.
In 2020, Eavor and Enex signed a letter of intent to form a geothermal project development company to revive the project in Enex’s existing license area. The groundbreaking ceremony signals the start of the work in the project where construction of the power plant and drilling will be done simultaneously. Earlier this year, Eavor announced that Turboden had been selected to supply the ORC system for the project.
The first of the four loops is expected to be completed by January 2024 and the power plant should be operational by March of the same year.
Niedermaier thanked the companies and investors for not giving up on the project in Gelting. He said that the loop technology sounds “quite simple and bizarre, but the devil is probably in the details.”
Mayor Michael Müller is optimistic that the new technology brings hope to realizing the geothermal project. “All good things come in threes, and the third time it works.” The municipality of Gelting also has an interest in building a district heating network together with the neighboring town of Wolfratshausen.
Source: Merkur.de and Suddeutsche Zeitung
