Gas production and geothermal plans in Reichling: Citizens have many questions

Created: 12/19/2022, 12:00 p.m

Presented the planned geothermal energy at the citizens' meeting in Reichling: Genexco Managing Director Eckhard Oehm.

© Johannes Jais

At the Reichling citizens' meeting, several citizens dug into the planned gas production and geothermal energy.

They had a wealth of questions about the project after Genexco Gas Managing Director Eckhard Oehm presented the project.

Keywords were noise, subsidence, jobs and drinking water protection.

Reichling – The Berlin-based company Genexco Gas applied for a license in May 2022.

At the beginning of October, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs granted the company this permission (we reported).

Minister Hubert Aiwanger explained that the intention was to exhaust all options in order to defuse the energy crisis.

Gas had already been searched for in the region between Landsberg and Schongau in the 1980s.

However, they were discontinued because they were not economical given the low gas prices at the time.

At that time, deposits in the Kinsau area were assumed.

That is why the drilling sites were called Kinsau I and Kinsau II, even though they were to the east of the Lech.

The name has been retained.

Gas production from a depth of 3000 to 4000 meters

At the citizens' meeting in Reichling, the 200 interested parties could look at a map where three points were marked - one green and two red.

The green one is Kinsau 1, located to the southeast of Reichling, and indicates the location for the gas well.

Kinsau 2 (near the Lech) and Kinsau 3 (east of Reichling) are suitable for thermal drilling.

Genexco boss Oehm described that the gas production begins at a depth of 3,000 to 4,000 meters in layers with Jura limestone.

You want to get to this depth by opening the strands down again, which were filled with concrete four decades ago.

"Concrete drills more easily than hard rock," said Oehm.

Regarding the schedule, the managing director explained that after the "exploration permit" issued in October and after a preliminary check on environmental compatibility, the clarification with the South Bavarian Mining Authority would take place next year, seismic data would have to be evaluated and a drilling plan had to be drawn up, which, despite the license, would again require a permit require.

Funding is expected to start in 2025.

Does the project endanger drinking water?

It is planned to bring the extracted gas to customers via the regional supplier - that is Energie Schwaben.

The connection can be made at Denklingen near the Hirschvogel company, near Landsberg or near Schongau, Oehms called the variants for lines, for which the consent of the landowner was required.

Plan B is to liquefy the gas, clean it, separate the water and cool it down to minus 165 degrees.

Then it can be taken by truck to customers, eg to BayWa.

The locations K2 and K3 - the letter K stands for Kinsau - are suitable for geothermal energy.

The water is over 100 degrees hot;

an occurrence of 60 liters per second is given.

But such a project is expensive.

The alternative would be a TEWS, a deep geothermal probe.

According to Oehms, this is "very efficient" in order to supply new areas.

Around 10,000 square meters of heatable area could be covered with it.

One question was whether the safety of the drinking water was guaranteed with the well in the Bachrunzel.

The Genexco boss confirmed this.

The drinking water is at a depth of 30 meters, the well goes down a good 3000 meters.

A water protection or nature reserve will not be touched.

In addition, there are clear guidelines from the mining authorities, as they apply to all 5,000 deep wells in Germany.

One listener asked if the project would cause damage to nearby homes.

Oehm's answer was that the gas and heat extraction was taking place in a 20 meter high layer at a depth of 3000 meters.

There you don't have such great extraction depths as in Holland, where there are up to 600 meters difference in altitude.

A Genexco employee said the company would be liable for damage from the well.

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Trade tax remains with the municipality

Another citizen did not want to see any advantages for the municipality with two technical and one commercial employee.

What about trade tax?

It will go to the community, it said.

Mayor Johannes Leis mentioned that the municipality had a right of veto before funding began.

Of course, it should be borne in mind that domestic gas is also needed in Germany - just like wind energy and PV systems.

The subject of gas production and geothermal energy was discussed for an hour at the citizens' meeting in Reichling.

It was just after 11 p.m. when a woman shouted from the back that, given the abundance of information and questions, a separate meeting for this project alone was indicated.

You can find more current news from the region around Schongau at Merkur.de/Schongau.