Drilling starts for geothermal heating at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport

Air France Boeing 777-200ER landing at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France (source: Matti Blume (CC BY-SA or GFDL), via Wikimedia Commons)

Arverne Drilling Services, a subsidiary of Arverne Group, has started the drilling of a geothermal doublet to supply heating to the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. The doublet aims to tap into a 70 °C geothermal resources at 1800 meters depth. The drilling will take approximately three months.

The project marks a key milestone in the decarbonization of the Paris-Charles de Gaulle platform. It has been commissioned by the ADP Group, a global leader in airport operations. When completed, the heat from the doublet will supply Terminal 1 of the airport with up to 80 GWh/year of sustainable and locally produced heat. The drilling is being done using state-of-the-art drilling equipment built by Herrenknecht Vertical.

In addition to its environmental benefits, this geothermal project contributes to the local economy engaging around 75 workers on-site during the drilling and construction phases, including five roles dedicated to integration programs.

Geothermal heating has been in place at the Paris-Orly Airport since 2010. The system currently supplies 35% of the heating requirements of the airport, both for space heating and supply of hot water. Plans are in place to increase the contribution of geothermal to supply 50% of the airport’s heating needs.

“This project demonstrates the ability of geothermal energy to meet the industry’s decarbonization needs. We are proud to bring Arverne Group’s expertise to this initiative, which will enable the ADP Group to benefit from a local, renewable energy source that stabilizes its energy costs over the long term and reduces its carbon footprint. We firmly believe that underground resources, particularly geothermal energy, are key solutions for the energy transition” said Pierre Brossollet, founder and Chairman & CEO of Arverne Group.

Source: Arverne Group via BusinessWire