Geothermal drilling at Geiselbullach, Germany to start later this year
Drilling of a doublet to supply geothermal heat to an existing waste-to-energy facility in Geiselbullach, Germany will is planned to begin by December 2025.
Drilling for geothermal resources is expected to start within the by December 2025 in the town of Geiselbullach in the municipality of Olching in Bavaria, Germany. This project aims to tap into geothermal resources to provide an alternative source for the existing district heating network, which is currently supplied by a waste-to-energy plant.
The geothermal project will be headed by Amperland Thermalwärme GmbH (ATW), a subsidiary of Joint Municipal Company for Waste Management (Gemeinsames Unternehmen für Abfallwirtschaft / GfA), the company that currently operates the waste-to-energy plant.
The plan is to drill a doublet that taps into the water-bearing layer of the Upper Jurassic aquifer at a depth of approximately 1,725 ??meters. Water temperature at this depth is expected to be about 73 °C. If the drilling and well testing results are positive, the company will then apply for a water law permit. The geothermal heating plant can then be operational by early 2027.
The application for the geothermal heating project was first submitted by GfA back in 2023. District heating in the immediate area of Geiselbullach is currently entirely supplied by the waste-to-energy plant. It supplies heat to an existing network that serves the residential and commercial buildings in Olching, as well as an in the neighboring district of Dachau. However, the growth of heating demand means that GfA can no longer provide sufficient supply.
Available seismic and drilling data was requested by ATW from the Bavarian State Office for the Environment. This data was then used to model subsurface structures and help identify the drilling targets. The permit for drilling was granted in later 2024.
The geothermal project in Geiselbullach is supported by the Federal Funding for Efficient Heat Networks” (BEW) program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK), which provides a 40% investment subsidy for generation facilities and infrastructure. The combination of the construction of a geothermal plant and the expansion of the heat supply qualifies ATW for this funding.
Source: Merkur.de
