Groundwater heat pumps need a well. (Symbolic image) © Andrea Warnecke/dpa-tmn
The Ministry of Economic Affairs favours the heat pump in the planned heating system replacement. But the case of a community of owners in Munich shows that water shortages could become a problem.
Munich – In Germany, many owners will have to replace their heating systems in the foreseeable future as part of the Building Energy Act. From 2024, with a few exceptions, new plants must be operated with at least 65 percent renewable energy in order to achieve the climate targets. Despite the openness to technology, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) favors the heat pump. But even if heat pumps can be heated very sustainably and cheaply, many factors have to be taken into account during installation and sometimes unforeseeable problems are encountered.
Well dries up: groundwater heat pump no longer works
This is what the residents of an apartment building in the eastern Munich district of Waldperlach recently had to experience. Their heating with groundwater heat pump no longer works – because the associated well has dried up due to the sunken groundwater, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung. "It came as a surprise to us," Martin K., one of the owners, told the newspaper. Although it is also possible to heat with electricity via an emergency mechanism, this has almost doubled the ancillary costs.
The owners' association has therefore opted for a new heating system – which will probably have to be operated with gas. "Because we have no other choice," Martin K. told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the case of the well, which was built in 2009 to operate the heat pump, it is no longer possible to drill deeper to get water because of a layer of rock.
This means that, despite the planned Building Energy Act, the owners' association in Waldperlach will have to go the opposite way: from heat pumps to gas heating. However, they are not alone with their problem: In January, the low groundwater put the heat pump of a Neubiberg couple out of action.
Low groundwater level in Bavaria
The factor that has put the heat pump of the house in the east of Munich out of action is the groundwater level in Bavaria, which has been falling for years. Even though the rain is currently replenishing the groundwater in Bavaria, the immense drought of recent years has left its mark. Particularly affected: the east of Munich. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the groundwater level here has fallen by more than three meters in the past ten years.
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