Geothermal project in Munster, Germany receives EUR 7 million state funding
Presentation of grant approval to Stadtwerke Munster-Bispingen in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany (source: inisterium für Umwelt, Energie und Klimaschutz, Niedersachsen)
Carlo Cariaga
3 May 2023
The state of Lower Saxony, Germany has approved a EUR 7.1 million conditionally repayable grant for a geothermal pilot plant in the city of Munster.
Stadtwerke Munster-Bispingen GmbH is set to receive a EUR 7.1 million grant from the Ministry for the Environment, Energy, and Climate Protection for a proposed geothermal project in the city of Munster in Lower Saxony, Germany. The grant approval was presented by Energy Minister Christian Meyer to Jan Niemann, Director of Stadtwerke Munster.
We had previously reported that state funding in the “tens of million” will be awarded to geothermal pilot projects in Munster and Bad Bevensen, both in Lower Saxony.
The Munster site is particularly well-suited for a deep geothermal pilot project that will utilize the numerous oil and gas wells in the city. Part of the permit for geothermal extraction is to use the former Munster-Südwest Z3 natural gas extraction well geothermally and to expand it into a geothermal doublet with a second, new well.
The project is funded in the form of a conditionally repayable grant, which, if successful, is repaid back to the state and minimizes the discovery risk. Since the test drilling is very expensive, the state would like to hedge the production risk to a certain extent and has decided to provide a conditionally repayable grant. This same grant scheme will be provided to the pilot project in Bad Bevensen.
“I am pleased that with the support we can use the great potential in our region and the groundbreaking opportunities of the Demonstrate deep geothermal energy with this flagship project,” said Jan Niemann.
“Stadtwerke Munster-Bispingen GmbH, as the parent company of HeideGeo GmbH & Co KG, is opening a whole new chapter in the development of renewable energies with this project,” Niemann added. “Together we can advance the energy transition with geothermal energy as a cost-effective and climate-neutral form of energy.”
“We must push ahead with the expansion of renewable energies with all our might in order to be climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest. In addition to wind power and photovoltaics, this also includes geothermal energy. It offers us the opportunity to obtain renewable heat from an environmentally friendly and almost inexhaustible source of energy,” said Minister Christian Meyer.
The State of Lower Saxony has for far issued 12 permit fields for geothermal exploration, the latest of which was the Altencelle permit field awarded to Baker Hughes InteQ GmbH.
Source: Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy, and Climate Protection
