Fuel prices, security of supply and dependence on raw materials pose new challenges for energy suppliers. Researchers at Fraunhofer IEG are investigating how heat and strategic raw materials can be extracted from the underground at the same time. The idea: Hot deep water provides heat for grids and industry – and at the same time lithium for batteries. This reduces costs, strengthens regional value creation and makes the heat supply future-proof.
"We want to make geothermal energy doubly valuable: it can provide clean heat and at the same time provide strategic raw materials such as lithium," says Dr. Katharina Alms from Fraunhofer IEG. Water from a depth of several kilometers contains not only energy, but also dissolved metals. The study uses the example of the North German Basin to show how these resources can be developed together. For operators of geothermal plants, a second mainstay would be created in the long term through additional revenues from existing infrastructure through the production of lithium or copper. There are currently three research and five commercial sites that use hydrothermal energy from deep reservoirs in the North German Basin. More than 50 other locations are in the planning phase.
