Eavor targets geothermal power production at Gerestried site by 1H 2025
Eavor's geothermal project in Geretsried, Germany (source: Eavor Deutschland)
Carlo Cariaga
7 Jan 2025
With surface facilities completed and drilling progressing, Eavor is expecting to generate geothermal power at the Geretsried, Germany site by 1st half of 2025.
In an interview given to German publication Merkur, Eavor Deutschland (Eavor) has provided major updates on the company’s innovative geothermal power project in Geretsried, Germany. According to Eavor spokesperson Alexander Land, construction of the surface facilities has been completed and that electricity can be produced for the first time in the first half of 2025.
The project in Geretsried will be the first commercial-scale deployment of Eavor’s unique Eavor-Loop technology which makes use of several subsurface closed loops to harness geothermal energy and generate power. We had previously reported on in early 2024 an update on the drilling progress of Eavor, simultaneous with the power plant construction. By the end of 2024, the total measured depth of drilling had reached 8000 meters.
Land provides some details on how Eavor changed their drilling approach for the project. The initial plan was to drill two wells vertically to depths of 4500 meters before drilling horizontally for 3000 to 3500 meters to form a loop. This process will then be repeated to create twelve loops.
However, Eavor is now planning to create only six loops on Loop 1, as this is the number necessary to operate the power plant. Three loops have already been finished and drilling of the fourth loop is ongoing. The company also decided to pressure test each loop immediately upon completion of drilling.
Although the new approach presented some challenges, it also provided valuable learning experience for Eavor. Land describes the delays as “part of the learning curve” and that the learnings will help the rest of the project proceed more efficiently.
Drilling work at the Geretsried site started in mid-2023. The goal for the site is to generate approximately 64 MW of thermal output or 8.2 MW of electrical output, thus saving approximately 44,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. The project has received a great deal of financial and political support, becoming the first recipient of the Canada Growth Fund and securing financing of over EUR 130 million in early 2024.
Eavor managing director Daniel Mölk emphasizes that what the company is doing in Geretsried has never been done before. “We were extremely happy when we successfully joined the first two laterals into a loop with a drilled length of around 8,000 meters.”
Eavor has since secured agreements for similar geothermal projects in the German cities of Hanover and Neu-Ulm.
Source: Merkur
