Private households should be the first to be supplied with geothermal energy before companies get a chance. This is what the CSU factions in the municipal councils of Aschheim, Kirchheim and Feldkirchen are demanding. The three municipalities in the east of the district of Munich have plans to expand their jointly operated geothermal heat project AFK Geothermie.
The lines are already branching out a good 90 kilometers, through which heat extracted from the depths reaches households, public buildings and companies in the three municipalities. In 2022, according to plan, the network will have grown by another six kilometers. With the attack on the Ukraine, however, interest in an energy supply that was largely independent of Russian natural gas also grew strongly in Kirchheim, Aschheim and Feldkirchen.
In order to be able to meet this significantly increased demand in the future, the municipalities want to develop new sources for geothermal energy. The goal is a second doublet, i.e. a second deep borehole to extract hot water, including another hole to direct it back into the ground after it has cooled down. As a result, AFK hopes to be able to generate additional geothermal energy of nine to 15 megawatts, depending on the yield. However, even in the best-case scenario, all three communities could not be completely supplied with geothermal energy.
When planning further connections, the CSU local politicians are therefore calling for the focus to be placed on private households. For them, geothermal energy is often the only way to use regenerative energy for heating. Companies, on the other hand, could switch to other options for sustainable heat generation; the new connection of trade to the AFK should therefore be treated subordinately. In addition, the CSU suggests drawing up and submitting a detailed plan for the network expansion in order to give citizens planning security as quickly as possible.