Dutch greenhouse increase geothermal heating capacity with new well

Diana Tronco of Inco-Drilling and Radboud Vorage of Greenhouse GeoPower (source: Inco-Drilling via Linkedin)

Horticulture companies in the town of IJsselmuiden in Overijssel, Netherlands are benefitting with huge savings in natural gas expenses after the drilling of second well for geothermal heating. Greenhouse Geopower led by Radboud Vorage in the Koekoekspolder horticultural area is one of the companies reaping the benefits from this increased geothermal heating capacity.

The transition of horticulturists in IJsselmuiden to geothermal had actually already started back in 2012. The system drew water at 73 to 73 degrees Celsius from a depth of 1950 meters. This resulted in 70% to 90% reduction in natural gas consumption and a total reduction of 53 million cubic meters of natural gas since the start of the project.

New horticultural companies expressing their intent to switch to geothermal heating called for the drilling a new  well. Drilling of the well was carried out by Inco-Drilling during the summer of 2022. The well was directionally drilled to a depth of 1990 meters. Drilling took only 26 days.

We had previously reported on the start of drilling of this new well, with a bit of background on the permitting difficulties experienced by Project Director Radboud Vorage.

“During the whole project, there was great teamwork between all parties involved. It was also a pleasure for our team to be working with the project manager and director of Aardwarmte Koekoekspolder, Radboud Vorage, who has a great affinity with sustainable energy, circular economy, and corporate social responsibility,” said Diana Tronco of Inco-Drilling.

“Before the second production well was drilled, 5 million cubic meters of natural gas was saved every year. With the new well, 9 million cubic meters is expected to be saved per year. The well was taken into production according to planning at the end of 2022, and given the expected results so far, we can now save an additional 4 million cubic meters gas per year,” said Radboud.

“The cooperation with all of the subcontractors, including Inco-Drilling, was excellent during the construction phase of the project,” concluded Radboud. “We definitely plan to involve Inco-Drilling again in the drilling and well design trajectory for the next geothermal wells, to be realized in 2 to 3 years’ time.”

Source: Horti Daily