Plans for geothermal heating plant to proceed at Grunwald, Germany

Fortress Grünwald, Grünwald, Germany (source: PinkFloydFanSince1986 / flickr, Creative Commons)

Following the positive results of a feasibility study, Munich city utility Stadtwerke München (SWM) and Erdwärme Grünwald (EWG) are going ahead with plans of building a new geothermal heating plant south of Grünwald. This development is part of an ongoing partnership between the two local utilities that was signed back in 2019, as we reported.

To utilize this geothermal resource, additional connections will have to be put up to the existing district heating networks. These new and existing geothermal plants will run through the district of Munich like a “string of pearls” and make it possible to mutually exchange district heating capacities.

“Climate change knows no borders. That is why the solutions to combat it must not stop at municipal or national borders. This regional cooperation brings us a great deal closer to our goal of supplying Munich with 100% CO ₂ -neutral district heating in the future.” said SWM Managing Director Helge-Uve Braun.

“We would like to offer the citizens of Grünwald and Unterhaching the highest available CO ₂ -neutral geothermal supply. The networking of existing and new geothermal sources, as well as the linking of the networks in the region, would help enormously in terms of reliability and climate protection.” said municipality of Grünwald Mayor Jan Neusiedl.

Source: Bundesverband Geothermie