19.11.2009
New Geothermal Power Research Centre in Karlsruhe
Geothermal power: energy from the depth of 3,000 metres under the Earth´s surface (©BMU/Rupert Oberhäuser)
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will be home to the State of Baden-Württemberg’s new geothermal power research centre. The new research centre brings together scientists with experience in the geothermal field working at 13 institutes in Karlsruhe and will also draw on the expertise of other research institutions and universities in south-west Germany, such as the University of Freiburg. The objective of the scientists is to extract heat stored deep in the earth for use in the generation of electricity and for heating purposes by drilling wells down to a depth of around 2,000 to 3,000 metres. Karlsruhe is not only home to KIT’s technological excellence and know-how, the city is also located in the Upper Rhine Rift Valley, which offers a potentially abundant source of geothermal power. At a depth of around 3,000 metres, temperatures in this area already reach about 160 degrees.
The mission of the new “State Research Centre for Geothermal Power” is to tap potential sources of geothermal power in as environmentally friendly a way as possible, to determine power capacities and to calculate factors such as profitable extraction, safety and sustainability. One of the advantages which - along with biomass-geothermal power has over solar and wind power is its ability to provide baseload power. Geothermal power can be delivered at constant rates and is not subject to daily or annual fluctuations.
The State Government in Stuttgart will provide start-up funding for the new research centre of 900,000 euros over the next three years. The Institute will also have two new endowed professorships. The head of the centre will be Professor Frank Schilling who has recently been appointed to KIT’s Chair of Technical Petrophysics. KIT brings together the University of Karlsruhe and Karlsruhe National Research Centre. As such it is unique in Germany in being able to combine cutting-edge basic and applied research.
