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Hamburg (dpa / lno) - After around ten years of planning, Hamburg will start drilling the first borehole for northern Germany's first geothermal energy project for thousands of residents in the Wilhelmsburg district this summer.
Water with a temperature of 130 degrees is brought to the surface from a depth of three and a half kilometers, the heat is withdrawn there and then the cold water is pumped back down, said Hamburg Energie's managing director Michael Prinz on Wednesday.
This alone could supply around 5000 apartments with heat.
Depending on the thermal output of 10 to 14 megawatts actually available, electricity could also be produced.
The project should be finished in 2023/24.
Prinz put the investments including all systems and an aquifer storage at around 76 million euros, with the federal government funding the project with 22.5 million euros.
The geothermal system is at the heart of the “IW3 - Integrated Warming Turnaround Wilhelmsburg” project, which is to become the blueprint for the environmentally friendly supply of geothermal energy in northern Germany.
In the Bavarian capital of Munich, according to the Environment Senator Jens Kerstan (Greens), 500 megawatts of heat output have already been developed using geothermal energy.
"The point is actually to use almost inexhaustible heat from the earth's interior at very affordable prices for the long term to heat apartments," said Kerstan.
This is a great opportunity to get out of coal faster and to achieve the climate goals.
"If this project (...) is successful, it could also be the basis for advancing deep geothermal energy at other locations in Hamburg, but also in northern Germany."
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