Energie Wasser Bern (ewb) is planning an innovative energy centre in the west of Bern. In summer, surplus heat from waste incineration at the EZ Forsthaus plant will be stored underground via a large geothermal probe field. In winter, when district heating demand peaks, this heat will be retrieved and fed back into the expanding district heating network in western Bern. To enable this, the EZ Buech facility will be connected to the network currently being developed.
With a thermal output of around 17 MW, the new EZ Buech energy centre will comprise a large-scale geothermal heat storage system, a heat pump installation, a district heating station and the associated building infrastructure.
The project covers approximately 5 hectares and includes around 1,000 geothermal probes, each 250 metres deep. The probe field remains in agricultural use. To maximise synergies and generate new insights, ewb is involving research institutes specialising in agriculture and energy in this pioneering project.
HOLINGER is responsible for general planning, process engineering and all environmental aspects, including soil protection, accident prevention, air pollution control and the environmental impact assessment.
