Giant steps towards geothermal expansion: SWM invests around 1 billion euros

Created: 07/01/2022 05:34

By: Charlotte Borst

By 2026, SWM will expand their facility in Kirchstockach with another drilling doublet.

© Federal Geothermal Association

Stadtwerke München (SWM) is expanding its geothermal plants and the associated grids.

Further cooperations are also planned in the district of Munich.

District – Stadtwerke München (SWM) are significantly expanding the heat capacities of their deep geothermal systems.

The utility company will invest around one billion euros in deep geothermal energy by the early 2030s.

Helge-Uve Braun is technical director of SWM and president of the Bundesverband Geothermie eV.

He sees a key to an independent heat supply in deep geothermal energy: "We will leverage enormous potential and want to develop geothermal heat with a thermal output of 400 to 450 megawatts by the early 1930s." quarter of Munich's total district heating requirement of 1800 megawatts.

SWM already owns and operates a geothermal plant in Kirchstockach, Dürrnhaar and Sauerlach.

"There the EEG-subsidized power generation is still in the foreground," says Braun: "But these contracts will expire at the beginning of the 1930s, then we will produce 100 percent heat for Munich and for the connected district communities."

"The capacities are sufficient"

SWM intends to expand each of the three sites from one to three drilling duplicates.

In Kirchstockach, a second duplicate should be down by 2025.

A 22-kilometer transport line is already being planned in the south-east.

SWM supplies the neighboring communities with geothermal energy via this route and connects them to the Munich district heating network in the Perlach area.

"The capacities are sufficient," emphasizes Braun: "We don't take anything away from the district, we supply it with it.

If possible, we will make an offer to all interested customers.”

The expansion of the existing locations is the most economical way to increase capacity, explains Braun, "because we are having increasing problems finding locations in urban areas".

A piece of land the size of a soccer field is required for a geothermal plant.

An absorption thermal power plant is connected to each system, and fiber optic cables are laid for each borehole in order to permanently monitor underground processes.

Power plants of Stadtwerke München: “Steam district heating networks” are shown in dark blue, “district heating networks for heating water” in light blue, and projects that are under construction are marked with an asterisk.

© Graphic: SWM

Together with "Erdwärme Grünwald" (EWG) and "Innovative Energie Pullach" (IEP), SWM is cooperating in the south to set up new geothermal systems and, if possible, to expand existing systems.

Pullach is investing millions in grid expansion to become independent of fossil fuels.

In cooperation with Pullach and Grünwald, the SWM also want to transport ecological heat from the Isar valley to the city via long connecting lines.

The basis for the selection of new locations in both municipalities are seismic surveys that have been carried out with the IEP and the EWG.

"Where and when drilling is to be carried out is still being agreed," says Braun.

He hopes that by 2026/27 there will be a doublet in Grünwald and Pullach.

SWM also want to explore the subsoil in the north of Munich and explore the power of geothermal reservoirs.

"We want to persuade other geothermal operators to cooperate with us," says Braun.

There are also efforts to cooperate in the East.

SWM has also put out feelers to the municipality of Unterföhring and its subsidiary Geovol.

Here, however, the relationship is tense because of a controversial gas power plant at the HKW Nord site.

"We have offered talks from our side and are staying tuned," says Braun: "With the Geovol, we could imagine building a geothermal aquifer storage facility." This would allow summer energy to be stored for the winter.

However, it is still to be investigated how underground long-term heat storage can be realized.

Lots of room for improvement

In order to advance the heat transition, the President of the Federal Geothermal Association demands that the federal government provide funding and financially secure the discovery.

Approval procedures for line construction must be accelerated, says Braun.

Politics and administration are required here.

The utility companies are also hoping for help by providing geodata: "The investigations from oil and gas production would help us, which are often still in paper form in the archives."

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In Germany, 42 deep geothermal systems currently generate 1.3 terawatts of heat per year.

There is still a lot of room for improvement, emphasizes Helge-Uve Braun: "If politicians deliver what they announced in the coalition agreement, we will see potential for geothermal energy that delivers 550 terawatt hours per year.

That is quite a lot and corresponds to 25 percent of the heating requirement in Germany.”

More news from the district of Munich can be found here.