Deep geothermal energy has tremendous potential for decarbonizing the heating sector. However, one common
obstacle can be the mismatch between geologically attractive regions in the countryside and urban areas with
a high heat demand density, which are therefore attractive for district heating systems. In the last years, an
increasing number of regions consider the transport of geothermal heat into urban clusters. One example of
such a region is the South German Molasse Basin in Upper Bavaria. However, such heat transport pipelines
come along with massive upfront investment costs due to the required large pipe diameter and insulation
thickness. While the classic concept foresees the use of water as a heat carrier in such long-distance heat
transportation pipelines, CO2 can be an attractive alternative. This study investigates the thermo-economic
performance of CO2 as a heat transport carrier for a potential long-distance heat transmission pipeline with a
length of 20 km, which could connect a planned geothermal project in the South of Munich with the existing
district heating network of Munich. The results of the base case scenario demonstrate that for both heat carrier
options water and CO2 rather low LCOH for the transport of the heat can be achieved.
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Deep geothermal energy has tremendous potential for decarbonizing the heating sector. However, one common
obstacle can be the mismatch between geologically attractive regions in the countryside and urban areas with
a high heat demand density, which are therefore attractive for district heating systems. In the last years, an
increasing number of regions consider the transport of geothermal heat into urban clusters. One example of
such a region is the South German Molasse Basin in Upper Bavari...
»