Geothermal energy: How hot water the turn can bring

Mona Neubaur stands high up in the control center of the drilling device with a helmet and safety glasses and pulls on a black lever. Outside, the mighty drilling linkage sets in motion. With a deep hum, it is pulled deeper into the Krefeld floor. The NRW Minister for Economics, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy is obviously enjoying the 28-ton car. But after a few minutes her trial use is over again. “Great,” she says briefly. “Great!”

Here in Krefeld, in a parking lot behind the town house, there is an important piece of future research. The geological service of North Rhine -Westphalia has joined a drilling system behind high soundproofing walls. The researchers want to find out whether the layers of limestone, which occur up to 300 meters thick, could be suitable for a heat turnaround. The limestone was created 363 to 340 million years ago, and there could be hot water in its crevices and cavities, with which one could supply houses and factories with warmth in the future. And Co2-neutral.

They want to go down to 1000 meters to get a resilient result, they want to have made it at the end of April. Your findings will also be valuable for other regions. Because geothermal energy could take an important step nationwide on the way to German climate neutrality. To a green heat supply. This is exactly the thing of the Green Minister Neubaur, which is why she traveled to Krefeld with a consolation of specialist women and men from Düsseldorf.

The coalition negotiations continue in Berlin on this day, Geothermal is not at the center. In September 2023, the Union faction in the Bundestag had brought an application entitled “Potential of Geothermal energy – dismantle hurdles, minimize risks, relieve electricity sector”. But now her request is apparently running in a different direction. A new Union paper is just annoying the SPD. A return to nuclear power is required in it. The last six diligents switched off should be made brisk again. The state should become the owner and bear the full risk if the operators reject the high -speed.

That sounds insane in Neubaur’s ears. Like a restoration program against promising future projects, such as deep geothermal research on the Lower Rhine. She calls for Berlin: “We finally need planning security on the way to decarbonization.” Nuclear power? No thanks. Not under government for a long time. “I don’t think the state is a better company in the event of a case.” You can feel that she would like to shoot even harder against the Union fantasies, but it prefers to refrain from doing so. Finally she rules in NRW, emphasizes harmoniously, with CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst.

If you talk to the scientists and engineers present in Krefeld, this is not satisfactory. A missed opportunity. Some are already talking to geothermal energy. Deutsche Environmental Aid determined in 2024 that deep geothermal energy could cover about a quarter of the German heat requirement by 2040. The energy can flow into district heating networks, industrial companies or greenhouses. That would correctly advance the country on the way to the heat transition. But even at the traffic light, a nationwide geothermal strategy that controls the expansion was missing. Well, says an engineer, there is a fear of “that black and red is more likely to rub on nuclear power than to look forward to drive new, sustainable technologies.”

Mona Neubaur ended her round on the construction site. Finally, for the photo, she can take a drill crown occupied with industrial diamonds and inspect a few cylindrical drilling nuclei from the depths of the earth. In the end, she has such dirty hands that she doesn’t even want to eat a slide anymore.

Before she gets into her e-sedan to be driven to the next appointment, she promises to those present to try everything from the finance minister so that the funds for geothermal development continue to flow. For this, she reaps strong researchers.