Equipment of Kalina geothermal power plant of Unterhaching to be sold

Geothermal plant technology of Unterhaching (source: Unterhaching)

Alexander Richter 23 Jul 2018

Following the announcement of the end to geothermal power generation from the then groundbreaking geothermal power plant at Unterhaching  near Munich in Bavaria, Germany, ThinkGeoEnergy has now learned that there are discussions about a possible sale of the power plant technology.

Reported in December 2017, the discussions on how to pursue the further operation of the combined geothermal power and heat production in the Unterhaching community near the city of Munich, ended in a decision to shut down the plant.

The power generation utilising the so-called Kalina technology, a binary cycle solution utilising Amonia as an operating fluid to generate steam and electricity from lower-heat geothermal resources. The power plant was planned to utilise wells drilled for a district heating system. Today, more than half of the people in the community derive their heating from the geothermal heating plant in Unterhaching. While the heat production and sale has been profitable, power generation has not been economic, due to nearly no excess heat available during the winter time and power generation only during summer times.

Unterhaching now plans to utilise a pipe to a nearby ORC geothermal plant for any excess heat during summer times.

Due to this development, it seems the local operator has decided to dismantle the Kalina power plant and its components and to explore a sale of the whole plant or – if not possible – in parts, as ThinkGeoEnergy learned.

For further information and description of the power plant, please contact Mr.Thorsten Weimann, email: thorsten.weimann@gec-co.com, Phone +49 176 14530966

Source: Articles in local publication Merkur  – 1, 2 and 3 (all from December 2017)