- Parchim wants to heat water from two kilometers deep
Parchim is set to become another city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to use geothermal energy for district heating. According to the city's utility plans, hot water will be extracted from depths of 2,000 to 2,300 meters starting in 2028, as stated by the technical director, Marcel Götting. Preliminary investigations suggest the water could be between 95 and 100 degrees Celsius. Heat exchangers will be used to heat the water in the district heating network.
The Parchim plans can build on geological surveys from the DDR era. However, these measurements are not entirely reliable, Götting said. Therefore, the subsurface in Parchim is being measured this week using two so-called Vibro-Trucks. A vibrating plate under the special trucks sends vibrations into the ground, the course of which is measured. Experts can use this to determine if there are any obstacles between the surface and the layer where the hot geothermal water is located. These could be salt deposits or gypsum lenses, where drilling would be unsuccessful. As drilling is expensive, they want to avoid any failures.
Federal funding
According to Götting, about a third of all households in Parchim are currently connected to the district heating network, which is being expanded. Geothermal energy is intended to replace fossil fuels like gas. The use of geothermal energy was already considered in Parchim in 2012, but it was not economically viable at the time. Now, there is federal funding available.
The conditions for using geothermal energy in Northern Germany are good. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, several utility companies are already extracting warm water from the depths for district heating, for example in Neustadt-Glewe, Neubrandenburg, and Schwerin. In Waren an der Müritz, the first German plant in the megawatt range began operation in 1984, marking the beginning of the use of deep geothermal energy for heat supply in Germany. According to the Federal Association of Geothermal Energy, there are another six projects planned in MV.
The implementation of geothermal energy for district heating in Parchim will involve the use of heat exchangers to process the hot geothermal water, ensuring its integration into the district heating network. To avoid any drilling failures due to potential obstacles, such as salt deposits or gypsum lenses, comprehensive subsurface measurements are being conducted using Vibro-Trucks before commencing the heating extraction in 2028.
