Groundbreaking Held for Laufzorn II Geothermal Heating Plant, Grünwald, Germany

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 19, A groundbreaking ceremony has been held for the Laufzorn II geothermal heating plant to be built by local utility Erdwärme Grünwald (EWG) in the municipality of Grünwald in Bavaria, Germany. With this, the utility company has made a major step forward toward expanding the extent of geothermal heating in Grünwald, a plan which EWG announced back in 2022.

With an exceptional increase in demand in Grünwald for geothermal heating, EWG set in motion the plans to expand their geothermal heating capacity. The utility has so far already completed work on a new 5-kilometer stretch of district heating pipeline. Part of the project is the drilling of a new doublet to a depth of around 4000 meters. This is expected to start by the spring of 2025.

Construction of above-ground facility will then proceed by 2026, looking towards a start of supply to the district heating network by the 2027/2028 heating season. Once Laufzorn II is in operation, Grünwald will achieve maximum independence in terms of heat supply and independence from fossil fuels.

The project is set to receive EUR 62.3 million of funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics. The municipality will also be investing an additional ~EUR 150 million.

“I would like to thank our partners who have supported us so successfully so far and who will accompany us in the next important steps. I would especially like to thank Erdwerk, the geology planning office, Anger, which will carry out the deep drilling, Pfaffinger, which is responsible for building the drilling site, and last but not least the planning team from Drees & Sommer,” said Andreas Lederle, Managing Director of EWG during the groundbreaking ceremony.

“Together we are expanding what is already the largest geothermal district heating network in Central Europe and creating value for the future. Good luck to all of us!”