EnBW and MVV Energie secure new geothermal exploration permit

River view, Mannheim/ Germany (source: flickr/ Metro Centric, creative commons)

The Baden-Wuerttemberg State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining (LGRB) in the regional council Freiburg (RP) has granted the energy companies EnBW AG (Karlsruhe) and MVV Energie AG (Mannheim) the required mining law permit to explore geothermal energy in the “Hardt” field in the area of Heidelberg-Mannheim-Schwetzingen.

The issuance of the permit was announced by the regional council of Freiburg today in a press release.

Both companies want to explore and evaluate the geothermal potential of the subsoil in the “Hardt” field over the next five years. The development of geothermal energy from the hot deep waters of the Upper Rhine Graben is then planned at suitable locations. The aim is to use geothermal energy for regional district heating. As reported, the investigation of the currently unused geothermal well in Brühl is also planned for its suitability for supplying a thermal power plant. For this purpose, the property law situation must first be clarified.

The permit under mining law enables companies exclusively to geological exploration and development of geothermal energy in the permit field. Other companies are denied such activities. The holders of the permit are obliged to carry out a planned exploration according to the work program set out in the application, to report the results to the regional council annually and to coordinate the progress of the exploration. As announced, the MVV and EnBW are planning intensive public relations work to accompany the process.

It was also pointed out that further exploration work such as drilling at specific locations is not yet permitted with this permit. Such measures require further approval steps, in which the public sector bodies are involved.

Source: RP via our German partner website TiefeGeothermie.de