The future lies underground – in two, three, sometimes four kilometers. And nowhere else in the republic is the potential that geothermal energy can develop as great as in the district of Munich. Municipalities such as Unterhaching, Pullach, Baierbrunn, Grünwald and Sauerlach have long recognized this. And of course the state capital, which naturally taps into the district’s sources with Stadtwerke München, is massively expanding the district heating network and plans to completely cover the need for district heating by 2040 at the latest and to be able to take the important step towards independence in terms of energy policy. The county needs to do that as soon as possible.
Even in the northern communities such as Unterschleißheim, Ismaning or Unterföhring, it is no longer a secret what treasures lie dormant beneath the Molasse Basin. The expansion of geothermal energy is also progressing there, but not as quickly as in the southern district, where around Pullach and Baierbrunn, for example, water with a temperature of more than 100 degrees is stored in 2000 to 3000 meters. At the latest, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the closely associated price increases for energy – above all for gas and petrol – make it clear that the expansion of geothermal energy must be pushed further not only for reasons of climate protection; it’s simply about securing the energy supply, about making the district self-sufficient from gas supplies. This is one of the crucial future questions that must be addressed and answered no matter what the cost.
So far, the question of financing has been the main obstacle to expanding the district heating supply across the entire district. One kilometer of line costs around one million euros. In the long term, however, these investments are more than cost-covering, because the geothermal cycle is a never-ending one. District heating can even be transported over long distances – for example from the southernmost district of Munich via the state capital to the east and north – without serious heat loss. And by the way: what the state capital is able to do with the municipal utilities in the expansion of geothermal energy, the district should also be able to do. Preferably in cooperation with the people of Munich.