The German Geothermal Conference 2025.
Metharc presented our Geothermal-Biogas coupling solution at The German Geothermal Conference 2025 (18th to 20th Nov in Frankfurt). Not surprisingly, as the biggest annual Geothermal conference in Germany it was well attended. Many thanks to Der Geothermiekongress for organising a well coordinated, educational and forward-looking conference.
The presenters discussed a variety of topics, ranging from political and regulatory environment, technical progress, safety, together with projects plans, operations and economic analysis. With the recent introduction of new subsurface CCS rules in Germany, the Geothermal sector faces a rapidly changing landscape.
My three main takeaways from the conference were,
- The main Geothermal focus was in two key areas; either the reuse of old mines for heat recovery, or the deep drilling of wells to geothermal depths that would provide the required temperatures for power generation (i.e., > 4,500 m vertical depth).
- The German government recognises the strategic value of Geothermal Energy and is now focussed on promoting the sector through the Geothermal Acceleration Act
- Energy security, together with the long-term stability of national energy supply, needs the Geothermal energy sector to grow quickly. However, how we optimise this energy resource and its exploitation are key to both improving its economics and its global scalability.
At Metharc optimising energy generation and integrating carbon management systems is where we are focused.
Metharc presented its climate-positive Geothermal wellbore Biogas reformation process, which couples Geothermal power with Biogas production, to generate Negative-Emission Green Hydrogen with point-of-use local carbon capture. The main benefits of this process are,
- By injecting the Biogas directly into the Geothermal wellbore, the Biogas sector avoids the energy and cost of upgrading the Biogas to Biomethane.
- The wellbore tool is an energy conversion process which converts Methane in Biogas to Green Hydrogen which is then produced to surface.
- All tool’s the waste stream carbon (CCS) is captured in the Geothermal reservoir – the hot process waste injection (CCS) is a free bi-product and therefore sustainable.
- The CCS provides shallow Geothermal reservoirs (e.g., ~1,500m) with artificially high fluid temperatures (e.g., >150 deg C), which are only naturally seen in much deeper (e.g., >5,000m), far more expensive wells.
- These artificially raised reservoir fluid temperatures can also be stored in the Geothermal reservoir (i.e., Thermal Battery) over long time periods (e.g., > 1yr).
- As the Biogas is biogenic, and therefore carbon neutral, the Hydrogen produced is Green Hydrogen and the associated CCS injection therefore creates negative emissions for carbon trading.
- The use of shallower Geothermal reservoirs reduces well costs dramatically.
- The above benefits provide a significant improvement to the economics for both Biogas and Geothermal sectors in tandem, lowering the barriers to commerciality.
- Reduced energy volatility provides long-term supply & price stability (e.g., >20 yrs)
Biogas to Hydrogen (BtH) is one solution to the economic obstacles facing both the Biogas and Geothermal industries going forward. This Green Hydrogen can supply the Hydrogen network with baseload production, while benefiting from sustainable CCS, reduced surface carbon infrastructure, and a significant improvement in climate, commerciality, energy efficiency and energy security. Through sector integration the inherent synergies between Geothermal and Biogas generate significant benefits. Geothermal wells provide Biogas with a well facility for Hydrogen production with local geological carbon capture (CCS), allowing Biogas operators to focus on their core business of Biogas generation. Conversely, Biogas provides Geothermal Energy with higher temperature power fluids, power output at lower well costs and heat for reservoir thermal storage and seasonal recovery on demand. This allows Geothermal projects to prioritise reservoir quality over rock temperature, so shallower, cheaper wells can be drilled. The coupling of these sectors creates a pairing that makes true global geographic scalability possible, and develops a second market that allows both sectors to grow rapidly in tandem while future-proofing Biogas generation.
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