French group initiates start for geothermal heating project in Alsace, France
Wineyards in the Alsace, France (source: flickr/ moedermens, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
31 Oct 2012
A French group has started drilling for a 24 MW thermal geothermal heating project that is to provide heating for a bio-refining plant in the Alsace region of France.
A French JV has been created by Roquette Freres group, Electricité de Strasbourg (EF) and Caisse des Déðots, to develop a geothermal heating project in Alsace, France.
The projects initiated drilling this week and targets a geothermal reservoir at a depth of 2,500 meters to supply heating to a plant by Roquette, a bio-refining company ca 15 km away from the well.
The target size of the project is 24 MW thermal and should allow the company to derive 25% of its heating needs replacing gas and reduce about 39,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The well to be drilled now is “designed to test the potential energy as estimated in preliminary studies”.
If the results from the first well are successful, a second well will be drilled for reinjection. The plant could be commissioned as early as 2015. The overall investment cost has been estimated at EUR44 million ($57 million), with EUR25 million ($32 million) to come from the Environment Agency and Energy Management (ADEME). ADEME and the regional government are covering risks of the project.
Source: Le Républicain Lorrain (in French)
