Geothermal drilling starts in Garges-lès-Gonesse, France

The launch of geothermal drilling operations at Garges-lès-Gonesse, France (source: Groupe Coriance)

Carlo Cariaga 1 Apr 2025

The drilling work for the geothermal energy system in the town of Garges-lès-Gonesse in the Val-d’Oise department of northern Paris, also part of the Île-de-France region. The drilling work will last three months and the geothermal system is expected to be commissioned by Fall of this year.

Drilling operations were officially inaugurated in the presence of Benoît Jimenez, Mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse and Regional Councilor of Île-de-France, Philippe Court, Prefect of Val-d’Oise, Amélie Renaud, Regional Director of ADEME Île-de-France, Olivier Blond, Special Delegate for Environmental Health and the Fight Against Air Pollution for the Île-de-France ergion, and Yves Lederer, President of the Coriance Group.

The cost of the project is EUR 65 million. ADEME has supported the project with EUR 25 million while the Île-de-France region has contributed another EUR 3 million.

The well is expected to tap into a geothermal resource hosted in the Dogger formation, with an expected temperature of 65 °C at a depth of 1600 meters. The drilling work will be done in two phases – from mid-March to early June, and from the end of June until the end of July.

Educational facilities have also been set up to welcome children from the town’s primary schools, residents, and local stakeholders to learn how the heating network and geothermal energy operates safely. Visits can also be organized by registration on the website of Espace pedagogique – Energie Verte de Garges.

The 19.6-kilometer heating network will soon be supplied by a combination of geothermal energy and a wastewater treatment plant. Heat will be produced locally using geothermal energy (62%) and the recovery of waste heat from the SIAH wastewater treatment plant located in Bonneuil-en-France (35%). Biogas will then be used as supplement (3%).

With the heat network operating, the town of Garges-lès-Gonesse will avoid annual emissions of up to 20,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 16,667 vehicles.

Energie Verte de Garges, a subsidiary of the Coriance Group, was contracted by the town of Garges-lès-Gonesse in 2023 and have since accomplished the following:

• Taken over operations of the network in the Dame Blanche Nord district;
• Created 9.1 kilometers of network, now supplying the equivalent of 4800 homes, including sports facilities and schools;
• Built a 1000-square meter building on Rue Denis Papin to house the technical equipment to support the network, such as heat pumps and heat exchangers

Earlier this year, the Coriance Group had also started drilling operations for a geothermal doublet in the Alfortville commune, also within the Paris suburbs.

Source: Groupe Coriance

Carlo Cariaga

See Full Bio