Orléans, France scraps planned geothermal heating project over cost concerns
Orléans, France (source: GIRAUD Patrick, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
20 May 2025
The city of Orléans, France is no longer pursuing plans for a pilot geothermal heating project over issues relating to land use and unexpectedly higher costs.
Plans for a geothermal heating project serving the Nécotin school complex in Orléans, France have officially fallen through as announced by city officials. The project, first announced in March 2024, turned out more expensive than initially expected and ran into land use issues.
The initial plan is for a pilot project to utilize geothermal to replace natural gas heating in the Nécotin school complex. The work was supposed to take place during the summer school holidays of 2025, with commissioning to follow by the fall. If the project proved successful, geothermal heating can then be deployed to other public institutions in the city.
The reasons for no longer pursuing the project were announced during a city council meeting. Based on the feasibility study, the project was going to cost EUR 2 million. However, after bids had been submitted, it was discovered that the cost would exceed EUR 3 million. Moreover, 25 boreholes had to be drilled over a substantial area, which would introduce issues relating to land use.
Sandrine Menivard, Deputy Mayor in charge of rehabilitation work, however explained the the project would have delivered on its CO2 emissions promise. According to the offers, the system would reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% and deliver energy savings of 75% to 80%.
“We can only regret this rather significant difference between the preliminary study and the actual proposal. I therefore understand the desire not to extend it to other schools, but we could perhaps have pushed the exercise to the end, at least in this school,” said councilor Baptiste Chapuis, who had supported the project since its initial announcement.
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Source: La Republique du Centre
