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Reallabor IW3: Hamburger Energiewerke start geothermal drilling operations

In Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg Energiewende have started drilling for the planned geothermal energy production. This means that the first work is now underway on the geothermal project, which will be completed by 2024. Then, with a capacity of 10 MW, around 5,000 households in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg will be supplied with green heat ...

In Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, Hamburger Energiewende have started drilling for the planned geothermal energy production. This means that the first work is now underway on the IW3 geothermal project, which is scheduled for completion by 2024. Then, with a capacity of 10 MW, around 5,000 households in the Wilhelmsburg district, located south of the Elbe River, will be supplied with green heat. "Deep in the earth beneath Hamburg lies an energetic treasure," commented Michael Pollmann, State Councillor for the Environment, Climate, Energy and Agricultural Economics in Hamburg. In the Hanseatic city, as part of the coal phase-out, the aim is to replace the use of hard coal at the Wedel power plant "with a variety of clean sources," as Pollmann puts it.

Technically, the geothermal plant will bring hot thermal water from a depth of 3,500 meters to the surface. The energy is extracted from the water via heat exchangers and fed into the local heating network in Wilhelmsburg. The cooled water will then be fed back into the thermal water-bearing stratum underground.

Two boreholes are planned as part of the project, a production borehole to pump the hot thermal water and an injection borehole to return the water to the subsurface. Hamburg expects to complete the drilling work by August.

The plant is part of the IW3 - Integrierte WärmeWende Wilhelmsburg (Integrated Heat Turnaround Wilhelmsburg) real laboratory, which aims to achieve a "virtually CO₂-free heat supply for Wilhelmsburg's residential neighborhoods," according to the project makers. In addition to existing heat generators such as solar thermal energy, the use of geothermal energy will form a further basis for the supply in the future. In addition, "cross-sector technologies such as heat pumps, power-to-heat plants and the use of self-generated renewable electricity" are being considered for the future. In addition, a "seasonal aquifer storage system" is planned in order to be able to use heat surpluses from the summer months in the winter. Finally, a digital heat marketplace will bundle all local energy producers and consumers. The total investment for the IW3 project is 70 million euros. As a "real laboratory of the energy transition," the German Federal Ministry of Economics is funding the project with 22.5 million euros. In addition to the Hamburger Energiewerke as consortium leader, the project also involves Hamburg Energie Geothermie, Consulaqua, HIR Hamburg Institut Research as well as the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and Kiel University.

Deep Geothermal Energy
Article by Dominik Heuel
Article by Dominik Heuel