As of: February 1, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Gerti Reichl
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Large-scale Seegut construction site in Bad Wiessee: Heavy equipment is currently being used to drive an undetermined number of bored piles into the ground on the lake shore.
© Thomas Plettenberg
With the Strüngmann project “Seegut”, almost a new district is being created on the banks of the lake in Bad Wiessee.
While the ground is currently being literally prepared for this, approval is still pending for a completely new technology for energy supply: the thermal use of seawater.
Bad Wiessee – The excavators are working again on the lakeshore.
Heavy equipment is at work on the 3.8 hectare area to drive bored piles of varying thickness and depth into the ground.
They are intended to ensure the stability of a mega-project: the “Seegut” hotel complex from the Strüngmann company Athos.
A new district with 25 buildings will be built here - with a hotel, tavern, wellness and apartments.
The local council has already completely agreed.
The Miesbach district office had also issued a partial building permit, which includes all civil engineering measures.
According to Professor Stephan Heller, CEO of the marketing company Heller & Partner commissioned by Athos, the civil engineering work will last until mid-2025 and will be carried out in three construction phases.
The trades such as earthworks, shoring, drainage and foundation piles have been awarded.
The design planning has been completed and the implementation planning is underway.
Full building permits are expected from the district office this March.
And if possible, approval for a completely new form of energy supply should be available in the spring: the use of Tegernsee water for heating and cooling, a technology that does not yet exist in Bavaria.
The technology
To this end, two 650 meter long pipes are to be laid in the lake below the former casino site at a depth of around 30 meters.
The water should be sucked in with a strainer and transported to a seawater center using pumps.
Here it is converted into either heat or cold.
PV systems will generate the electricity required for the heat pumps.
The opinions
Even if this is not expected to cause a chemical change in the condition of Lake Tegernsee, the project is being examined extremely closely.
According to the district office, five specialist departments were involved - the water management office, the lower nature conservation authority, the specialist advice for fisheries, the Institute for Fisheries at the State Office for Agriculture and the castles and lakes administration.
The city of Tegernsee, whose political territory the lake is part of, has already given a positive vote.
According to the district office, the final statements from the Fisheries Advisory Board and the Fisheries Institute were still pending.
When asked, the district office did not want to comment on details from the statements from the Lower Nature Conservation Authority.
The statement from the Palaces and Lakes Administration is eagerly awaited.
She had recently submitted an extension of the deadline for submission.
It was already said at the end of 2023 that fundamental issues relating to sea thermal energy would be coordinated at the ministerial level and across departments.
“A detailed, scientifically based investigation of the effects on flora and fauna is necessary,” says spokesman Florian Schröter, pointing to the State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection, which is responsible.
When we asked, a spokesman said in writing: “Bavaria's Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber is committed to significantly accelerating the expansion of all renewable energies.” He and the ministry are open and open to sea thermal energy.
A permit under water law as well as licensing agreements with the water body owners - the Free State - are required.
The licensing authority is the district office.
Where the ball currently lies remains to be seen.
The chance
Even though the final assessment is still pending, Professor Heller is confident that lake thermal energy will ultimately be used and thus revolutionize the topic of energy supply on Lake Tegernsee.
“With the thermal use of sea water, we meet all the requirements of the Building Energy Act for renewable heating, which will become binding in 2028,” says Heller.
“Since the thermal use of sea water has been used with positive experiences in other countries such as Switzerland and Austria, we see no reason why a permit for this ecological and environmentally friendly way of generating energy should not be granted in Bavaria.
“We don’t have a plan B,” he openly admits. “Athos is currently assuming that the building construction work will last until 2028.
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