A deep geothermal power plant inaugurated in AlsaceJune 07, 2016
The Minister of the Environment and Energy Ségolène Royal inaugurated the deep geothermal power plant on Tuesday in Rittershoffen north of Strasbourg, a project presented as a world first that will supply steam to a factory of the food group Roquette. This plant will be responsible for drawing hot water at 165 degrees at 2.600 m deep to supply steam to a factory located 15 km away, that of the Roquette family group specializing in the recovery of vegetable raw materials, in Beinheim.
Coupled with a wood-fired boiler that already equips the site, the Rittershoffen geothermal installation will increase the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption of the Roquette industrial site to 75%, one of the five world leaders in starch processing .
Realized by the group ES (Electricité de Strasbourg), a subsidiary of EDF, the installation releases a power of 24 megawatts, enough to produce the energy that would heat 27.000 homes.
The project represented an investment of 55 million euros.It consists in drawing the water which is trapped in the characteristic faults in the basement of the Rhine valley. The borehole descends to a depth of 2.600 meters, so as to capture the resource at its required temperature of 165 degrees. The water brought back to the surface goes back into the earth through another well. Previously, it goes through a heat exchanger in the power plant. This takes the calories to heat the water that circulates through a buried pipe to Roquette. Reached the factory at 160 degrees, it operates the production facilities via a steam generator. At the exit, it carries out the opposite path, up to the Rittershoffen reinjection well.
"The Rittershoffen project brings us to strengthen our commitment in all renewable energies", hydraulic, solar, wind, says Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF,
According to him, "the technology is now mastered and respectful of the environment, without fracturing" of the basement.
The EDF group already has other projects in Alsace aimed at "replicating the Rittershoffen project, in Wissembourg a few kilometers from here, and Illkirch" near Strasbourg, said Mr. Lévy.