Awards announced for outstanding geothermal heat and power plants in Bavaria, Germany

The winners of this year’s Golden Geothermal Plant in Bavaria, Germany (source: TiefeGeothermie)

The annual Praxisforum Geothermie Bayern was concluded earlier this year. One of the highlights of the event, were once again the annual awards for the best geothermal plants in the categories power generation and heat generation in Bavaria, Germany. In addition the annual Christian Hecht Prize was awarded to the best young academic work.

Based on plant output, Erdwärme Grünwald received the award for the best heat output. and Geothermie Traunreut received the award for the best geothermal power plant in 2019.

In his announcement, Jörg Uhde from Pfalzwerke Geofuture GmbH, said “In the joint operation with Unterhaching, [Erdwärme Grünwald] has significantly increased the potential of production,” said Jörg Uhde from Pfalzwerke Geofuture GmbH in his laudation. “You clearly deserve this recognition.” Andreas Lederle accepted the award for Erdwärme Grünwald and passed the praise directly on to his team: “Another crucial point is that we do not use the maximum heat output. Above all, it is important to us to supply our customers consistently and reliably. ”

Geothermal Traunreut was honoured as the best geothermal power plant this year. “Geothermal energy is an important contribution to public services,” Uhde praised the award winners. “In Traunreut, she is paired with entrepreneurial courage and assertiveness.” The award was accepted by Technical Operations Manager Utz who thanked her for the appreciation of his team’s work: “Many small steps lead to the goal. And in Traunreut, too, it is an achievement by the entire team. ”

The Traunreut geothermal power plant was built by Italian ORC supplier Turboden.

In his announcement of the winner of this year’s Christian Hecht Prize, Dr. Christian Pletly from SWM Service GmbH said, “It is important to pass knowledge on to the next generation and [Christian Hecht], the geothermal pioneer who died in 2017 would have absolutely approved the award named after him.”

This year, the prize was awarded to Laura Spitzmüller from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Explaining the jury’s choice,Mr. Pletl said “Your work combines innovative character, methodological clarity and practical relevance”. The work “Thermal water treatment for raw material extraction: Reduction of the SiO2 concentration” researches processes for lithium extraction – an important element for electromobility. In addition to prize money of EUR 1,000, donated by the Pfalzwerke Geofuture, GDMB and Enerchange, Laura Spitzmüller was given the opportunity to present her work to an expert audience, which she used brilliantly.

Source: Our German partner site TiefeGeothermie