Huge run on geothermal energy: "The lever has been flipped"

Created: 05/12/2022, 05:30

By: Marc Write

The excavators are on the move: the house connections for geothermal customers are the main tasks for Erdwärme Grünwald this year.

© EWG

In Grünwald, the residents are queuing to get a connection to the relatively cheap geothermal energy.

The Ukraine crisis was the trigger.

Grünwald

– Erdwärme Grünwald can no longer save itself from requests for new house connections.

EWG Managing Director Andreas Lederle confirms this when asked.

It doesn't surprise him, because he is convinced that the geothermal energy that we have under our feet is the best of all forms of energy.

Even if the labor price for district heating has risen since May 1st.

Mr. Lederle, has the demand for geothermal energy increased?

Not only that, it's a real run.

We see a really dramatic flood of applications in Grünwald that we have to deal with.

This is related to inflation and the rise in oil and gas prices as a result of the Ukraine war.

Can geothermal energy serve all wishes at short notice?

In terms of energy, we can do anything.

Unfortunately we have a bottleneck, the availability of material.

In our budget planning this year, we increased the number of house connections from 100 to 150.

We were able to secure that with our suppliers, with the construction company that digs the house connection and lays the pipes.

The station manufacturers are having delivery problems.

It affects the components that are supplied with chips.

And it takes time to reorganize everything so that the materials come from Europe itself again.

But we'll manage the 150 connections this year.

With what kind of demand?

We've been fully booked this year for quite some time.

The construction crews have their hands full.

How long is the waiting list now?

Very long.

I'm careful with an exact naming of candidates.

But we are already postponing all contracts that reach us to next year.

And in 2023 we want to increase our capacity from 100 to 150 connections.

With geothermal energy you have a certain stability, but you have to bow to the market a bit in terms of price.

Is it still cheaper to use geothermal energy?

Even before the price jumps, I said: If you open the full cost calculation, geothermal energy was competitive with natural gas, which was super cheap at the time.

It has always been cheaper than oil, and since the fall we have been significantly cheaper than all the fossil energy that is on the market.

The economic reasons are the drivers for the movement in the Grünwald energy sector?

Yes, but people have also realized what it means.

When we no longer get basic needs secured in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

This means that when water, air and heat are no longer available to us, then things become threatening.

So the topic is the realization of how valuable it is when you have the added value and production on site.

Since the lever in thinking has been completely flipped.

However, we said that if you've had a gas boiler for a few years, it would be nonsense from a business point of view to rip it out and switch.

But even this circumstance is no longer part of the decision-making basis.

And despite all the prophecies of doom, it is now paying off that the purchase of the plant in Unterhaching has gained another location for energy security, isn't it?

Yes, it takes bold decisions.

And they pay off today, as you can see from this example.

Not only for Grünwald, but also for Unterhaching.

We are significantly stronger thanks to the association, we have mutual security in the geothermal sources, and also thanks to the redundancy in both communities.

Networking is one of the most successful segments in geothermal energy, because we have to use the energy 365 days a year as evenly and gently as possible for the subsoil.

As a result, we now have a service life of the submersible pumps of three years.

This is what the citizens need: security of supply, socially acceptable prices and, last but not least, a climate-friendly heat supply for their homes.

Here we have the prime example for Germany.

Not only for Germany.

Delegations from other countries have informed themselves, such as the former Ukrainian head of government Yulia Tymoshenko seven years ago.

At that time, she already recognized that the dependency on Russian gas would be best ended.

The topic of geothermal energy was also interesting for Ukraine for her.

But now, using the example of a family of four in an average household, how much do I have to factor in in the year before and after inflation.

I can tell you one thing.

At Erdwärme Grünwald we have a price adjustment of 15 percent for the working price as of May 1st.

We are also dependent to a certain extent on the development of electricity prices.

Such a four-person household will consume around 20 megawatts per year, that's 69 euros per megawatt now, before it was 59 euros, that's about 200 euros more than before the price increase.

Annual costs will be around 2500 euros including everything.

The technology is also included: transfer station and maintenance with repairs.

Some will now be annoyed that they didn't access it faster.

You'll have to wait a bit, but it's your turn.

Andreas Lederle speaks of a moderate price adjustment © EWG