MUNICH: The heating plant in Munich's southern Sendling neighbourhood has been run for more than a century on gas, often imported from far away.Tacked on to the side of the original 19th-century red-brick plant is a boxy new geothermal unit surrounded by a tangle of pipes.
But the timely opening of the modern unit - one of the largest of its kind in Europe - is a happy coincidence for the city, which like the rest of the country is facing the challenge of making up for lost Russian gas supplies.Munich is pouring in €1 billion through 2035 to develop the geothermal energy and make the city's heating carbon neutral.
After a heady peak, prices on the spot market have fallen in recent weeks. But the crisis has underscored the vulnerabilities of the continent in the area of energy.Piping hot thermal waters are pumped up from 3km below the surface. The heat is transferred into the local network, which connects nearby homes to the plant, while the cooled thermal waters are sent back underground.
Across the border in France, the government published a plan on Thursday to increase the number of deep geothermal energy schemes by 40 per cent by 2030.The Italian government is also gearing up to support expansion, while in Denmark, the largest plant in the country is set to open in Aarhus in 2030, supplying 20 per cent of the city's heating.Once fully operational, the new plant in Munich will be able to supply up to 80,000 local homes with warmth via a sprawling network of pipes.