Japan's Chubu secures EUR 130m for German geothermal project

Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power Co Inc (TYO:9502) announced on Tuesday it has secured a EUR-130-million (USD 139.3m) project financing loan for a geothermal project in Germany with a power generation capacity of around 8.2 MW.

Located in the German state of Bavaria, the Geretsried Geothermal Project has a district heat transfer output of approximately 64 MW. It will feature four closed loops using an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system to efficiently extract underground heat for electric generation and district heat supply.

The project is majority owned by a unit of Eavor Technologies Inc with about 60% while Chubu holds some 40%.

The construction commenced in July 2023 with the drilling of the first loop, as partial commercial operations are expected to start in the last quarter of 2024. Full-scale operations are scheduled for the third quarter of 2026.

Chubu noted that Geretsried is classified as an innovative technology regarding carbon neutrality transition and thus will receive a EUR-91.6-million grant from the EU Innovation Fund.

The loan was secured with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the European Investment Bank, ING Bank NV, Tokyo Branch, and Mizuho Bank Ltd. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance is insuring the financing portion of the commercial banks.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.072)

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