This development has been in the works for a long time with talks of a collective geothermal district heating project centered in Vaterstetten starting back in 2020. In 2022, the municipal council of Vaterstetten passed a resolution for the execution of a geothermal heating project and followed up with an appeal for funding from the State of Bavaria.
The founding of the company was signed by all four town hall representatives: Leonhard Spitzauer from Vaterstetten , Andreas Bukowski from Haar, Klaus Korneder from Grasbrunn, and Piet Mayr from Zorneding. Markus Porombka and Tobias Aschwer were assigned as Managing Directors.
The new company will build and operate a geothermal district heating system that runs across the four communities. The startup capital of the company is EUR 500,000, with 45% coming from Vaterstetten, 25% from Grasbrunn, 20% from Haar, and 10% from Zorneding. The actual financial requirement for the geothermal project is EUR 50 million to be split in the same manner.
The communities have different stakes in the company because each community has a different heating situation. Vaterstetten is contiguous with all three communities and already has growing local heating network run by the municipal utility. There is also a municipal utility in Grasbrunn, but they are yet to go into heating and will have to build a network. In Haar, there are two heating networks, but these are owned by private companies. Lastly, Zaar has neither a municipal utility nor a heating network.
Preparations for drilling ongoing
There is no word yet on when drilling for the project will start, but Aschwer states that an EU-wide tender is being prepared. However, this can only be published once funding has been confirmed. The company estimates that about EUR 15 million will be needed for this.
Aschwer further said the the drilling cannot be insured, but that the municipalities can keep 40% of the funding if it fails. The heads of the communities are however optimistic about the economic viability of the project. A report presented to the Vaterstetten local council indicated that water temperatures of 95 °C at a flowrate of 114 L/s can corresponding to about 21 MW of thermal output can be expected.
Korneder further pointed out that there is now a lot more geothermal experience and that risks can assessed better. Spitzauer is optimistic that “lenders will be lining up” once the system has been shown to be working.
