Eavor Gerestried is a project company owned by Canada-based Eavor Technologies Inc. that is dedicated to the planning, construction, and operation of the Eavor-Loop™ in the municipality of Geretsried. Prior to this, a prototype project called Eavor-Lite™ had already been put up near Rocky House Mountain in Alberta, Canada. The performance of the demonstration project had been validated in 2020 and hit a 2-year milestone at the end of 2021
For the Geretsried project, a total of four loops will be drilled to a depth of 4500 meters. Together, they will generate approximately 64 MW of thermal output or 8.2 MW of electrical output and thus, save approximately 44,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. As early as summer 2024, one of the four loops will supply electrical energy for the first time. Completion of the entire facility is scheduled for 2027.
Two of the largest drilling rigs in Europe are being used for the project. The two drilling rigs will operate in parallel, initially drilling down vertically to approximately 4500 meters before deflecting horizontally. Several parallel branches are planned, each around 3200 meters long. This will create an underground heat exchanger at depth. Eavor had recently posted a video on the Rock-Pipe™ technology that will make it possible retain the working fluid in the open hole section of the well.
Simplified diagram of the Eavor-Loop system (source: Eavor Geretsried)
In the tradition of the miners, the so-called chisel consecration took place on July 5, 2023 at the drilling site. Before the start of the drilling work, the Catholic and the Protestant parish priest celebrated this solemn ceremony together with the drilling team. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project had been previously held in the October 2022. Turboden will be supplying the ORC system for the project.
The Eavor-Loop™ project in Geretsried is also the focus of the EU Commission’s funding activities. The construction receives a grant of EUR 91.6 million from the European Innovation Fund EIF.
