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Recovery plan denied for Limburg geothermal heat project, NL

Recovery plan denied for Limburg geothermal heat project, NL Baarlo, Limburg, Netherlands (source: flickr/ jacjanssen, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 12 Jun 2021

The geothermal project in Limburg stopped due to local concerns on seismicity has not got the approval for its proposed recovery plan.

The Department of Economic Affairs and Climate in the Netherlands has said no to California’s Lipzig Gielen Geothermal (CLG) geothermal recovery plan as reported locally.

The ministry has drawn up a draft refusal decision on this matter, which is available for inspection until 22 July. CLG submitted a request for consent to the geothermal project in April 2019. This plan was presented to TNO, State Supervision of Mines (SodM), the Technical Committee on Soil Movement, local authorities and the Mine Council.

After advice from these organizations, the ministry concludes that there is a lot of uncertainty about safety due to seismic activities in the soil. The geothermal energy project in Limburg has been halted for about 2.5 years after minor earthquakes in the area. The project has been supplying heat in the horticultural area of ??California near Venlo since 2015. The two minor earthquakes in the area occurred in August and September 2018.

SodM previously stated that after technical investigations and analyses, there is insufficient scientific data about the specific underground situation to sufficiently exclude risks and release the source again. CLG filed for bankruptcy last year.

Source: Nieuwe Oogst