SEER geothermal heating network to expand to more municipalities in Essonne, France

Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, Essonne, France (source: Pline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The geothermal heating network of the Societe d´Exploitation de Energies Renouvelables (SEER) will be expanded to three more municipalities in Essonne, France. This has been made possible with a new doublet in the commune of Ris-Orangis, which was drilled in 2023. The announcement was made by Sipperec in conjunction with ENGIE Solutions.

The SEER heating network, co-owned by Sipperec, had originally been put into operations in 2017 to supply the cities of Grigny and Viry-Châtillon. The municipalities of Fleury-Mérogis and Sainte Geneviève-des-Bois eventually joined the heating network, allowing for extension and further supply to the Fleury-Mérogis penitentiary, the largest prison in Europe. Today, the 27-kilometer heating network allows for the supply of geothermal heat to 23,000 homes across five municipalities in Essonne.

This heating network will then be expanded to supply the municipalities of Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, Savigny-sur-Orge, and Morsang-sur-Orge.

The planned expansion will extend the heating network to 65 kilometers by 2032. The expanded heating network is seen to supply heat to 72,000 housing equivalents with heat and domestic hot water. From 130 GWh per year, energy production is expected to more than triple to 437 GWh.

The heating network supplies only about 70% from geothermal sources, with the rest coming from gas boilers.

Source: ActuEssonne