| Title | Geothermal Energy Use in Germany, Country Update 2020-2021 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Josef Weber, Holger Born, Christopher Schifflechner, Inga Moeck |
| Year | 2023 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Geothermal development, power production, direct use, ground source heat pumps, Germany |
| Abstract | This country report update will give an overview of the geothermal energy use in Germany. It covers geothermal power production, direct use applications as well as geothermal heat pump units for heating and cooling. At the end of 2021, about 190 geothermal installations for direct use of geothermal energy were in operation in Germany. This number includes facilities for district heating and thermal spas, the latter often in combination with space heating. The installed geothermal capacity of these facilities amounted to 451.3 MWth with a geothermal heat production of 6,480.2 TJ in 2021. District heating plants accounted for the largest portion of the geothermal capacity with 394.5 MWth and a heat production of 4,771.1 TJ. Geothermal electricity generation in Germany is based on the use of binary systems (Kalina cycle or ORC). This allows power production even at temperatures of 100°C. At the end of 2021, eleven geothermal plants with an installed capacity of 47.0 MWel fed electricity into the German grid. The geothermal power production in 2021 summed up to a total of 207.7 GWh. Due to favourable geological conditions, geothermal district heating and power plants are mainly located in the Molasse Basin in Southern Germany, in the North German Basin, or along the Upper Rhine Graben. In addition to installations using “deep” geothermal energy, numerous small- and medium-sized decentralised geothermal heat pump units are in use for heating and cooling of individual houses and office buildings. In the last years, the sales figures of heat pumps have increased again. Over 150,000 heat pumps were sold in 2021, with a share of about 18% (27,000) for geothermal systems (brine and water systems). At the end of 2021, 435,000 geothermal heat pumps were running successfully in Germany and supply renewable heat mostly for residential buildings. All installed geothermal heat pumps had a thermal output of about 4,930 MWth in total and provided 25,704 TJ of renewable heat in 2021. |