The Greens fear for Bavaria’s leading position among the federal states in the use of geothermal energy. “The Free State is now being left behind from other federal states when it comes to geothermal energy,” said the energy policy spokesman for the state parliamentary group, Martin Stümpfig, to the German Press Agency. He refers to the “Champion Deep Geothermal Energy” award given to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by the Federal Geothermal Association in October. The prize goes to the federal state with the largest increase in installed capacity in deep geothermal energy (thermal) and with the largest installed capacity per inhabitant.
With an increase of 6.7 megawatts, the installed capacity in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania more than doubled compared to the previous year – nothing was added in Bavaria, which is why the value was set at 0. In terms of installed capacity per capita, Bavaria was still at the top in the country with 0.029 kilowatts/inhabitant – Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania only achieved a value of 0.0073 kilowatts/inhabitant.
In recent years, Bavaria has regularly received the award. Most recently, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) met him in 2021. “Bavaria has done nothing to expand geothermal energy. We Greens have been criticizing the state government for years,” said Stümpfig. In the Free State’s budget, just 7.5 million euros are allocated for geothermal energy. “That’s not even enough for a drilling,” said Stümpfig.
The state government’s energy policy ensures that Bavaria is left behind even in areas with the best starting conditions. “And there is no improvement in sight. The declarations of intent on geothermal energy in the coalition agreement are flimsy and not suitable for the necessary pace,” said Stümpfig. There are no promises for more investments, just a reference to a federal funding program. The project for petrothermal geothermal energy in northern Bavaria mentioned in the coalition agreement already exists. In order to achieve more momentum in geothermal energy, a guarantee program is needed to insure the risks for drilling and a separate heat network program.