Strasbourg wants to have a say in the development of geothermal energy
The commission of inquiry into the earthquakes linked to the geothermal project near Strasbourg in 2020 calls for more open communication with communities.
Due to several seismic episodes that occurred between the end of 2019 and the end of 2020 north of Strasbourg, a prefectural decree of December 8, 2020 led to the final shutdown of the Vendenheim deep geothermal power plant project.in the Rhine Ecopark. The company GéoVen, a subsidiary of Fonroche, was to operate this site. The decree also suspended three other projects (Eckbolsheim, Hurtigheim, Illkirch-Graffenstaden), ES Geothermal projects. The information mission (information and evaluation mission, MIE) set up on this occasion submitted its conclusions to the Strasbourg Eurometropolis Council on November 19, 2021.
The MIE mentions: “the predominant feeling of the hearings [on the Fonroche company], is that of haste in the conduct of operations, perhaps conditioned by the economic and financial stakes of the project, in connection with “unstable management (PPE)”. The MIE also refers to “compensation that is too long and often for an amount lower than the costs of the repairs to be carried out”.
The mission called for greater involvement of local communities in the conduct of geothermal projects, in the report. This information and evaluation mission (MIE), bringing together elected officials from the Strasbourg metropolis and German municipalities, scientists, associations and citizens, deplored that geothermal activities remain a “prerogative of the State” not involving ” sufficiently communities and citizens ”.
“The mining code is no longer suitable for projects of this nature: it must evolve so that the inhabitants, elected officials, are involved and can express themselves on the methods of exploitation of the subsoils” and the associated risks, estimates Marc Hoffsess, deputy to the ecological mayor of Strasbourg and president of the MIE. The report underlines that most mayors “had the feeling of having been confronted with a fait accompli”, while associations evoke an “informational desert” in the face of the deep geothermal project carried out until December 2020 in the region of Strasbourg in the north. of France.
The authors of the report also deplore the fact that the scope of public inquiries is limited to the “locations of the projects concerned” and is not extended to all the territories exposed to risks. “We are struck to see that some municipalities have discovered deep geothermal energy during earthquakes, but had never been requested” before, exposes Marc Hoffsess, calling for public inquiries “much more open”.
Source: The Business Journal, 20 minutes