From a building materials company to the green Eldorado of the future - that is Matthias Ganser's vision.
He wants to modernize the district and earn money with climate protection and regenerative energy.
Brunnthal –
Matthias Ganser has a bundle full of plans in front of him.
He is sitting in the meeting room of the Ganser Group in Brunnthal.
Outside, cement mixers drive past noisily, the air is muggy and dusty: large portraits of his deceased parents, Günter and Rosemarie Ganser, hang above the coffee machine.
Started with a gravel pit
In 1958 the two of them started a gravel pit here on the site in Kirchstockach.
A smart entrepreneurial decision in post-war Germany, which was motivated by construction.
Dust, gravel, tons of trucks and stinking compost should soon be over here on the Ganser site - the two heirs Matthias and Günter want to turn the site into a green energy oasis: new biogas plant, hydrogen filling station, geothermal energy, solar fields.
"Construction was after the war, green is today." Matthias Ganser has big plans.
Printed out in front of him and even bigger ones in his head.
He sees his family's property in Brunnthal and Dürrnhaar as an economic and ecological opportunity for what he calls an "energy center of the future".
Building materials sector expanded in the 1990s
The 57-year-old is actually an orthopedist, having worked as a doctor for decades.
His father Günter Ganser died in 1987, so Rosemarie Ganser and her older son Günter Ganser jun.
and aunt Helga Meyer continued the business.
Over the decades, the Ganser Group quickly became more than just a gravel quarry: sand was added to the gravel, the dry building material Sakret from the USA to the sand, fresh concrete to the fresh concrete, and a composting plant to the fresh concrete.
"My brother then expanded the building materials sector in the 1990s and continued the green idea," says Matthias Ganser.
In 1997, a biowaste fermentation plant was opened on the Ganser site in cooperation with the district.
"The CSU was already thinking green back then," emphasizes Ganser.
Building materials went to Rohrdorf-Zement
After the death of his mother Rosemarie in 2016, Matthias Ganser gave up his practice in 2019 because his aunt wanted to retire and his brother was ill.
He took over the management of the properties and the disposal sector of the company.
The Ganser-Bau building materials division was handed over to Rohrdorfer-Zement - which is why a Rohrdorfer flag is now waving in front of the window of the meeting room in addition to the Ganser flags.
The orthopedist does not seem to regret his decision.
"I've been a doctor long enough," he says as he drives around his Brunnthal site in his white BMW SUV, past heaps of gravel, cement mixers, a disused composting plant, the geothermal plant of Stadtwerke München (SWM) and the district's empty biogas plant .
Water protection thwarts the calculation
The plant has been idle since last year.
Due to a new water protection law, it can no longer be operated on this part of the Ganser site.
20 meters further it would be legal.
When Matthias Ganser talks about it, his eyes light up with incomprehension.
"These theoretical laws come into play and create a water protection area there," he grumbles, and the next moment he enthusiastically outlines his plans for a new biogas plant: Even bigger, even more effective, ideally with an integrated hydrogen filling station.
Promise for biogas plant is pending
The construction of a new plant meant large investments for the district.
The examination process is correspondingly lengthy.
"If the community and district want to, they could build a new plant immediately - the approval is there," says Ganser.
The old hall could be used for other purposes.
He understands the difficult test, but needs a commitment by 2029 at the latest.
The relevant part of his site is currently leased to Rohrdorfer-Zement until 2035 – he would have to give notice to them in good time if a new biogas plant was planned there.
The possibilities are endless, but you don't have forever.
Germany and the district should not fall behind when it comes to green energy, as is the case with digitization.
"It could be a green Eldorado here - but you have to get going," says Ganser.
He also warns against giving the energy supply into private hands.
At Gazprom you can see where this is leading.
He calls for cooperation between the district, municipality and municipal utilities.
Strong partners like the municipal utility needed
Since Ganser got fully involved in the family business in 2019, it's as if the site has been rocking back and forth on a seesaw between old and new markets.
For his vision of the "energy center of the future" he needs strong partners like SWM, who want to quickly expand their geothermal plants on the Ganser sites in Brunnthal and Dürrnhaar.
Composting facility to be replaced
The new head of the family business has a big vision, which should replace the old pillars of the Ganser Group.
For example the old composting plant.
For a long time it was a thorn in the side of the residents due to the smell and the high volume of trucks - it will be replaced from 2023 by a warehouse for the power building materials trade with an integrated solar park on the roof.
"Less traffic, less noise, less dust," says Ganser with satisfaction.
He dreams of start-ups that will settle around his site in the future and use the energy infrastructure.
"The southeast of the district could become the melting pot for climate and energy."
Hydrogen particularly attractive
He sees regenerative energy and climate protection as a profitable model for the future: "There are calculations that these areas will have an economic power of 1.5 trillion euros worldwide by 2025," he says.
Matthias Ganser was particularly taken with the idea of the hydrogen filling station.
There are already several companies in the area that work with hydrogen, the first public hydrogen filling station in the district is around the corner at Martin Geldhauser.
In his opinion, this fuel will prevail over e-mobility in the long term, also because of the smaller batteries.
"People want to be mobile, that's a basic need."
