The company plans to invest around E34 million in these projects. As opposed to geothermal energy close to the surface, which is mainly used for heating purposes, deep geothermal energy enables electricity to be generated for meeting baseload demand.

This is because the water temperatures found in deeper earth strata are much higher. RWE Innogy plans to drill up to 4,000m deep into the ground as part of the projects that have just been approved, said the company.

On the fields covering an area of about 100sqkm, investigations will be carried out concerning the geothermal potential over the next three years.

In addition to the new data to be collected, existing seismic studies will also be used and re-evaluated. All the results are then to be incorporated into a new feasibility study. The two fields for which permits have been granted, extend across the rural districts of Oberallgau and Ostallgau, as well as the urban district of Kempten.

RWE Innogy operates the 60 megawatt offshore wind farm North Hoyle off the Welsh coast.   In addition, RWE Innogy on the construction of a 500 MW offshore wind farm Greater Gabbard off the east coast of England participated from 2010 to the first power supply.  In the Netherlands, the company applies also to the license for a generation capacity of 2,000 MW offshore on two particularly interesting locations, claims the company.

 

 

 

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