The drilling site at TU Delft, Netherlands (source: Geothermie Delft)

Drilling has started for the Geothermie Delft geothermal heating project at TU Delft. The first hot water is expected by mid-2024.

The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in Netherlands has started drilling for the geothermal heat project. The work started on 12 December 2022 with a small ceremony with students and drilling personnel in attendance. This is only the first phase of the drilling operations and the first hot water is expected by mid-2024.

The planned Geothermie Delft facility is a joint project of TU Delft, EBN, Shell, and Aardyn. It will act as a research facility for geothermal studies and will also supply sustainable heat to both the campus and nearby neighborhoods. One of the main goals for establishing the facility is to gather data to generate more accurate simulations, thus reducing the risk for geothermal projects.

In mid-2022, it was announced that Huisman has been selected to deliver the drilling rig for the Geothermie Delft project.

The current drilling equipment is sufficient only for the first 80 meters of soft ground. Two holes will be drilled for the supply and discharge of water. The diameter of the drilling starts wide and narrows further down. A casing will be laid to stabilize the boreholes.

By April 2023, the plan is to deploy a larger drilling rig to the site to drill through the harder rocks to a depth of 2.5 kilometers. This will take an estimated six months for the two holes. Pumping stations and connections to the campus heat network will then be constructed.