Eavor signs geothermal heat supply contract in Hanover, Germany
Signing of heat supply contract between Eavor GmbH and Enercity (source: Eavor)
Carlo Cariaga
2 Oct 2023
Eavor GmbH has signed a contract to supply geothermal heat to the district heating network of Enercity AG in Hanover, Germany.
Eavor GmbH (Eavor) has signed a heat supply contract with regional utility Enercity AG for the city of Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany. Under the contract, the plan will be to supply up to 30 MW of geothermal heat for the district heating grid of Hanover using the Eavor-Loop™ technology. The drilling work is set to start by 2025 and the operation of the first loop is expected by 2026.
As soon as the first well is confirmed to deliver heat, Enercity plans to build the infrastructure to connect the future site to the district heating network. The planned geothermal heating facility is expected to supply up to 250 million kWh of heat per year, 15% to 20% of the city’s annual district heating needs or corresponding to the demand of around 20,000 households.
Enercity is currently relying on a combination of large-scale heat pumps and river, industrial, and waste heat in efforts to transition to green alternatives. The goal of the utility company is to phase out not just coal, but also natural gas.
The long-term heat supply agreement between the two companies is an important prerequisite for further steps in the project, including the issuance of mining permits.
“The heat from the depths makes an essential contribution to ensuring that a third of the people in Hanover will be able to heat with climate-neutral district heating in 2027,” says enercity CEO Dr. Susanna Zapreva. “The plant with the innovative geothermal energy generation will be the first metropolitan application of its kind and will enable us to decommission even the last coal block in our generation portfolio.”
Eavor is currently in the process of drilling for the first commercial-scale deployment of the Eavor-Loop™ technology in Geretsried in Bavaria. A few weeks ago, the project was visited by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder in a show of support from the German government.
“We are looking forward to this project and to using our technology to contribute to converting a significant part of the base load of the city of Hanover’s district heating supply to renewable and independent energy,” says Daniel Mölk, Managing Director of Eavor GmbH.
Source: Eavor
