Milan-headquartered engineering company EXERGY International Srl and German construction firm STRABAG Umwelttechnik GmbH have partnered to deliver turnkey geothermal power plants with ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) technology.
STRABAG and EXERGY will offer services for the construction of ORC power plants, including process design, approval management, engineering, construction, equipment manufacture, delivery, assembly and commissioning, as well as plant operations.
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Initially, the partners aim to develop specific projects within the German geothermal market, planning to later expand into central and south-eastern Europe, where STRABAG Group is already established.
“With the generation of climate-neutral and base load energy, we can make an extremely important contribution to the energy transition in this country,” says Thomas Büchner, managing director of STRABAG Umwelttechnik GmbH.
STRABAG has gained valuable experience in the implementation of environmental technology systems. An example of a successful project is the geothermal power plant with ORC technology in Garching an der Alz in Germany for SILENOS ENERGY GmbH.
EXERGY will add experience to the partnership in the area of advanced binary geothermal power plants: “We bring our mature technological competence into the cooperation, leveraging on the flexibility and efficiency of the Radial Outflow turbine we have developed and produced ourselves” explains Marco Frassinetti, sales director of EXERGY International Srl.
“We see valuable opportunity to grow in the German market combining our expertise in binary technology with STRABAG’s EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) capabilities”.
The German government is continuing to fund research into new geothermal drilling technologies and site identification. Furthermore, campaigns to drive public acceptance of geothermal projects are underway, highlighting the benefits of this form of energy.
However, project risks, high drilling costs and few suitable water reservoirs make these projects typically less attractive to investors, according to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
