As reported locally, construction work on the geothermal district heating plant has started in Holzkirchen in Bavaria/ Germany. With the end of winter in the spring, the project plans to start work on the power plant. The contract was awarded to the Italian turbine manufacturer Turboden. According to its own statements, the company is building the fifth geothermal power plant in the Bavarian Molasse basin – to Sauerlach, Dürrnhaar, Kirchstockach and Traunreut.
The planned power output of the plant is 3.4 MW to particularly help sell electricity in the summer period. In the winter, the resource is to be primarily used to provide heating to the population of Holzkirchen through a district heating system. The power plant will be utilise air cooling, and will be built by Turboden together with Arens Anlagenbau GmbH from Lower Saxony in Germany. In the first quarter of 2019, the complex will be handed over to Geothermie Holzkirchen on a turnkey basis. By the end of 2018, the company hopes to start the operation of the district heating system.
Geothermie Holzkirchen will generate income as soon as power generation starts. Albert Götz, Managing Director of the local utility and project manager of the Holzkirchen geothermal project smiles: “The ‘music’ lies in the power plant.” The 20-year guaranteed feed-in-tariff remuneration promises nice returns. According to the power plant manufacturer Turboden, revenues are expected to be around EUR 6 million ($7 million) on an annual basis.
However, the wells drilled and the actual technology used were not a cheap affair. The municipality provided initial funding of EUR 11 million ($13 million) for getting the project off the ground. This year, the city provided an additional EUR 2.85 million ($3.4 million). Next year, yet another EUR 2.83 ($3.3 million) will be transferred as capital contribution. In additional the project company will be able to draw upon a EUR 2.83 million loan from the municipality. Altogether, about EUR 20 million ($23.5 million) in tax money will have been invested into the geothermal project of Holzkirchen.
Source: Merkur
