Wasabi Energy joins consortium on 4.5MW Kalina Plant in Taufkirchen, Germany
Australian Wasabi Energy joins a consortium around Geysir Europe and Swiss utility Axpo to develop a 4.5MW geothermal power plant using its Kalina Cycle technology at the Taufkirchen Geothermal Power Plant project in Bavaria, Germany.
Reported this morning, Australian “Wasabi Energy (LON: WAS, ASX: WAS) is joining a consortium to develop a 4.5 megawatt geothermal plant using its Kalina Cycle technology.
The project marks the first opportunity for Wasabi to build, own and operate a power plant with a licensee of the technology, and it will earn a direct equity interest of up to 15 percent in the scheme.
Wasabi is joining German geothermal developer Geysir Europe and Swiss utility Axpo to develop the project at Taufkirchen Geothermal Power Plant in southern Germany.
Wasabi believes its Kalina Cycle engine has substantial advantages over conventional thermal power engines. The firm claims that Kalina Cycle can produce up to 50 percent more power generation from the same heat input (working particularly well at temperatures below 200 degrees centigrade), making it an ideal solution for generating useful energy from waste heat.
The Taufkirchen project is being developed as a combined heat and power (CHP) geothermal plant that involves the utilisation of the recovered geothermal fluids for both district heating and approximately 4.5MW of power generation.
Wasabi said the propose integrated Kalina Cycle CHP development of the Taufkirchen geothermal resource is similar to the 2MW Husavik power plant owned by Wasabi Energy in Iceland and the technology has also been proven at the nearby 3.4MW Unterhaching geothermal plant.
The development of the Taufkirchen project will begin in June. Two wells will be drilled to depths of up to 4,100 metres by Daldrup & Söhne and these are expected to be completed by August.
Wasabi will earn a direct equity interest of up to 15 percent in the Taufkirchen project, in return for the provision of Kalina Cycle power plant and related services, once the first geothermal production well has been drilled and the viability of the resource is confirmed.
Once the power plant is installed, the firm will received a licensing fee, engineering fees and a share of the ongoing project earnings.Wasabi Energy executive chairman John Byrne said that the Taufkirchen project confirms that project developers in the geothermal market are “increasingly recognising the efficiency and operating advantages of the Kalina Cycle”.”
Source: Proactive Investors