Fri, 15 December, 2023
GeoSmart project innovations have been installed at a demonstration site in Germany.
The Insheim geothermal power plant is operated by The Natuerlich Insheim GmbH (VNI), which founded in 2021 as part of the Vulcan Energy Resources GmbH, with the main aim of promoting carbon-free geothermal energy production in the Upper Rhine Graben.
Insheim is a low-enthalpy plant that can generate a maximum output of 4.8 MW, using an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) to supply up to 8,000 homes with electrical energy across around 8,000 operating hours per year. The plant also creates thermal water that could potentially be used for district heating.
The Insheim geothermal power plant ideal is the second demonstration site for GeoSmart, following the installation of GeoSmart technologies at the Kızıldere-2 triple flash and binary plant at Zorlu, Turkey. By using these two types of plant, the project team can show the different flexibility requirements of low-to-high enthalpy provision.
About GeoSmart
The GeoSmart consortium have been working since 2019 to optimise and demonstrate the flexibility offered by geothermal energy for the next generation of electrical and thermal power, replacing reliance on fossil fuels while meeting the flexible energy demands during seasonal changes between summer and winter.
The expert partners within the project team have been combining their skills to improve the strategic flexibility of geothermal installations and show their potential to deliver optimised, sustainable and efficient energy production for decades to come.
The GeoSmart project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement 818576