As a producer cooperative with 3,000 member companies, Landgard is very interested in innovative developments in horticulture. Truly, it has been pursuing these for years, among other things as part of a company-wide sustainability strategy. In this context, Landgard is intensively involved as a project partner in a geothermal project led by the city of Straelen. The aim of the project - and of the feasibility study to be carried out in the coming years - is to explore ways of using deep geothermal energy and to promote the switch to a future-proof climate-neutral heat supply for horticulture in the Straelen region.
In the interest of its many members in the region, it is particularly important to Landgard that all prerequisites for the safe operation of geothermal plants in the companies for the production of flowers and plants as well as fruit and vegetables are created in the upcoming project.
If the project is successful, the geothermal resources would initially be available primarily to the horticultural businesses. For any surplus capacities, Straelen city council is already eyeing its first client outside the horticultural sector in the form of municipal swimming pool "Wasserstraelen". As a result, all citizens in the region would benefit from the development and utilization of geothermal energy, even beyond the horticultural sector.
Heat transisition in NRW
The city of Straelen entered the state competition "Heat from deep geothermal energy in NRW" with its entry "Deep geothermal energy for decarbonizing the heat supply to greenhouse operations in Straelen". This competition entry was awarded a prize by Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, together with two other projects. This is associated with the implementation of a large-scale feasibility study including financial support of up to 90 percent of the eligible expenses by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
"We working on heat transition in North Rhine-Westphalia. Deep geothermal energy offers great potential in this regard, and we want to make greater use of it. I am very pleased about the great interest in the competition and the high-quality applications from all parts of the state. This shows that the municipalities are reliable partners when it comes to promoting climate-friendly heat supply locally and making deep geothermal energy usable in the area," said Economics and Energy Minister Andreas Pinkwart at the announcement of the award winners.
Increasing cost pressure for horticultural businesses
"Landgard congratulates the city of Straelen on its success in the state competition. As a large Straelen-based company, we are happy to play a constructive role in forward-looking developments such as geothermal energy and would like to support the many horticultural businesses in the region in their conversion to a more climate-neutral heat supply as a producer cooperative. There is no alternative to this approach in view of the high emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the fossil heat supply with hard coal, natural gas or heating oil that has been used in many cases up to now. Added to this is the increasing cost pressure for horticultural businesses due to the CO2 pricing that came into force at the beginning of 2021. Against this background, the geothermal project of the city of Straelen is certainly an important contribution to securing a sustainable future for the many farms in the region," says Landgard board member Dirk Bader.
Other project partners of the city of Straelen are horticultural companies Draek Gartenbau and Wans-Roses, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures (IEG), Agrobusiness Niederrhein e. V., Gelsenwasser AG and the experimental center for horticulture of the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia in Straelen.
For more information: www.landgard.de