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Government of Bavaria, Germany announces geothermal master plan to push development

Government of Bavaria, Germany announces geothermal master plan to push development Minister Hubert Aiwanger, Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern 2019 (source: Enerchange)
Alexander Richter 12 Oct 2019

In groundbreaking news, the government of the State of Bavaria announces a master plan for geothermal energy with a focus on heating that is to help utilise the great potential of geothermal energy in the heat transition and push development.

In his speech at this week’s Praxisforum Geothermie. Bayern, Hubert Aiwanger, Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria and the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy announced a geothermal master plan for the State of Bavaria, Germany.

The goal of the master plan would be to utilise the potential of geothermal energy and coordinate the expansion of development. This, so the Minister, should also include support for the expansion of district heating networks. In the context of the event, Minister of State Hubert Aiwanger has also awarded the Bavarian Energy Awards to the SWM heating plant Riem and the thermal power plant of Erdwärme Grünwald.

“Geothermal energy has to get out of the slumber,” demanded Minister of State Hubert Aiwanger at the 7th Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern. “That’s where you have me by your side,” he explained, thanking the operators of geothermal plants for their commitment. “You as pioneers are an indispensable part of the energy transition. With geothermal energy, we have a key to the heat change in our hands, which we just have to turn around. “In his speech, Aiwanger emphasized that he is consistently switching the energy supply in Bavaria to renewable energy and wants to move away from fossil fuels.

To develop the dormant potential of deep heat, the Minister of State announced the master plan for geothermal energy. He wants to better coordinate the use of geothermal energy and offers the industry his government’s cooperation in order to support in realistic steps the further development of the technology, but also the search for donors. In Aiwanger’s view, one key factor is the expansion of the district heating networks and, in a first step, he wants to better link drilling and heating requirements with funding. The Minister of State also stated that in addition to the funding, the legal framework needs to be adjusted. The aim is to put geothermal energy at the center of the heat transition.

The product deep geothermal energy is unbeatable in the opinion of Aiwangers – the company Enerchange assumes heat production costs between EUR 30 and EUR 40 per megawatt hour. And at the same time, geothermal energy has one of the highest CO2 avoidance potentials for heat carriers, as the Federal Environmental Agency has shown in a study. Based on this data, the CO2 savings of the technology were determined for Bavaria by means of a survey among the operators of geothermal plants in 2018.

Following on from his speech, State Minister Aiwanger awarded the geothermal energy prices of Bavaria for their services in 2018 to the SWM heating plant in Riem and the Erdkraft Grünwald power plant. The managing director of Erdwärme Grünwald, Andreas Lederle, thanked the Minister of State for his commitment: “Mr Aiwanger, thank you for coming. This will show your appreciation to the industry and recognize the great prospects of geothermal energy. ”

Source: Our German partner site TiefeGeothermie