Federal government sets pace for geothermal energy

07.07.2025

Source: E & M powernews

The Federal Ministry of Economics has presented a draft of the Geothermal Acceleration Act. At the same time, a consultation with the federal states and associations begins.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) has published a draft Geothermal Acceleration Act (GeoBG). The aim is to ensure that geothermal plants, large heat pumps, heat storage facilities and district heating pipelines can be planned and therefore built more quickly in future. Among other things, the draft law provides for changes to mining, water and environmental law. In addition, the project is to serve the overriding public interest - a classification that already applies to wind energy and PV systems.

The draft law is an article law and provides for changes to mining law, water law and environmental law. As with wind turbines and PV systems, this is also intended to provide geothermal energy plants, heat pumps and heat storage systems with an overriding public interest. At the same time, the requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII) will be transposed into national law.

Another new feature is the acceleration of the construction of district heating pipelines. In future, pipelines for heat distribution from the producer to the consumer are to be treated in the same way as energy supply pipelines for electricity, gas or hydrogen. For the German government, the expansion of district heating is a key lever for the decarbonization of heating networks.

Another element of the law is the introduction of the function of a project manager in water law. This body supports authorities in the approval process, but does not make any decisions. Comparable roles already exist in federal immission control law. In addition, the approval process is to be standardized through digitization obligations and structured completeness checks.

Industry association sees need for improvement

"It is a big step that the Geothermal Acceleration Act also introduces a Geothermal Master Act for the first time," said Gregor Dilger, Managing Director of the German Geothermal Energy Association, on July 4. The association sees it as positive, for example, that the law now also includes the provision of cooling energy. The inclusion of heat pipes in the scope of the GeoBG is also an important step in the view of the industry association.

However, the association believes that the federal government, federal states and local authorities should also provide suitable areas for drilling sites, heating plants, heating networks and the installation of geothermal collectors and probe fields in order to facilitate the expansion of geothermal energy. This could be regulated by an amendment to the GeoBG (parent law).

The exemption of geothermal projects from the obligation to undergo a full environmental impact assessment is also a key issue for the German Geothermal Energy Association. According to the association, the water used merely circulates and does not change materially. The association is also calling for the depth of the assessment for sites to be adjusted to at least 300 meters in order to avoid unnecessary assessments in the context of nuclear repository potential. The deadline for submitting comments is July 21, 2025, and the law is expected to be passed by the Bundestag in 2025.

Author: Heidi Roider