← → The Holzkirchen geothermal power plant is one of a half-dozen such unobtrusive facilities south of Munich a city of 1.5 million that intends to be the world’s first municipality of its size to heat most of its homes and businesses with geothermal energy thus make its entire heating system carbon-neutral by 2040 Some of the additional plants will be on Munich’s outskirts where district heating grids will be linked with the Bavarian capital while others will be in the heart of Munich’s busy downtown “Munich realized that it can’t hit climate targets unless it addresses heating and Bavaria has deep thermal water flows between the Alps and the Danube that are ideal for geoenergy,” explains Michael Solic of Stadtwerke München While the Alps’ geological conditions favor geothermal energy the growing exploitation of this renewable resource in Bavaria shows that many other regions worldwide could tap into geothermal sources to heat homes and buildings and to generate electricity geothermal energy — basically hot water or steam drawn from the Earth — has been on the margins of the robust rollout of renewables in Europe where solar and wind power dominate the landscape geothermal remains a pricey and capital-intensive investment the danger of triggering earthquakes when deep hydraulic fracking is involved scares off some potential investors Turkey’s current geothermal capacity is more than the entire 28 countries of the EU combined Nearly 90 percent of Iceland’s heating comes from its ubiquitous volcanic reservoirs Other places in Europe have been tapping into geothermal power which also sits atop an auspicious geological formation currently provides about 900,000 people with geothermal heat The French capital also benefits from generous state subsidizes for geothermal energy and is planning to expand beyond the roughly 50 geothermal plants now in operation Europe’s energy planners say that geothermal energy’s key use will be in heating and cooling which together account for almost half of the EU’s energy demand there’s no alternative to geothermal to replace fossil fuels and nuclear power in decarbonizing the heating sector,” says Thomas Reinsch a geoenergy expert at the Helmholtz Center Potsdam Geothermal sources can also generate electricity by using steam to drive turbines The discrepancy between geothermal’s potential and its results has frustrated its enthusiasts “It’s completely irrational that geothermal is so underused,” says Ingo Sass a professor of geothermal science at The Technical University in Darmstadt and economies of scale will follow quickly and does so 24/7.” Sass notes that geothermal storage — the storing of hot and cold water in underground aquifers — is also coming into play Most experts agree that awareness and social acceptance of geothermal energy lags behind its technology’s maturity “Engineers tend to be wary of underground geology because everywhere it has a unique composition,” says Sass “That means lots of testing and then adjusting every project and the technologies to specific Carbon Crossroads: can Germany revive its stalled energy transition? Read more A professional forest ranger and Green Party member It took eight years to generate a single kilowatt-hour of energy The municipality knew it was taking a risk since it had to prove that the geological conditions were right before it could design a business model and apply for bank loans a second shot would cost the same — money the municipality didn’t have Drilling costs can run 40 to 70 percent of the total cost of geoenergy plants; in Holzkirchen it was closer to 70 percent drillers hit a gas bubble that they had to circumvent which are used to pump geothermal fluids to the surface “Geothermal: A Cash Cow or Sinkhole?” taunted the daily Münchner Merkur newspaper in 2016 questioning whether Holzkirchen would ever recover its investment “Heat pumps turn one kilowatt of electricity into three or four kilowatt-hours of heat,” explains Jörg Mühlenhoff of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe Some experts warn against overhyping geothermal energy, which carries risks beyond the financial hazards. In Berlin, city authorities have banned geothermal installations citing extremely permeable subsoil and rock that could lead to geothermal wells contaminating underground aquifers a technique called enhanced geothermal drilling — which increases subterranean water flows by injecting water into underground formations similar to techniques used in fracking for oil and gas — has set off earthquakes in some locales although enhancement drilling in a geothermal well in South Korea in 2017 caused a magnitude 5.4 earthquake that collapsed buildings and injured more than 100 people For Europe’s far-right parties, climate is a new battleground. Read more Geothermal wells can extract energy for as long as 50 years before the underground infrastructure collapses. Holzkirchen is now reaping those benefits; even the Münchener Merkur newspaper, the project’s one-time critic, is now overflowing with praise Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based writer whose work has appeared in the The Nation, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Atlantic and elsewhere. He has authored several books on European affairs, most recently Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall and the Birth of the New Berlin. He was a fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. More about Paul Hockenos → Never miss an article. Subscribe to the E360 Newsletter → “As a foundation company, we promote development of innovative applications in our core markets, and we apply our motion control technologies to emerging, high-growth application segments,” says David Doyle, president and CEO at Heidenhain. “We represent 10 brands in our corporate group, each with unique strengths. Our broad technology and product portfolio enables us to provide best-fit solutions to our customers for their application-specific needs.” Doyle reports that Heidenhain has been restructuring its North American operations to redistribute its sales and support staff to improve proximity to its client base. This is the third expansion step in Silicon Valley over five years, and the new facility will enable hands-on demonstration and training capabilities, similar to those at its Heidenhain Technical Academies (HTA) in Traunreut, Germany and Schaumburg, Ill. “We work closely with industry associations like SEMI, AMT and A3, and welcome their participation in this initiative, including invitations to their member companies,” explains Doyle. “Ultimately, in collaboration with industry partners, we seek an opportunity to expand our involvement in workforce development across the various industries we serve.”  Heidenhain was expected to open the new Fremont facility in March, and begin installation of equipment with its OEI/OEM partners. A ribbon cutting event will be held this spring, with a grand opening celebration to follow later in 2024. Jim Montague is executive editor of Control.  Before sheets are turned into home appliances at BSH in Traunreut (Germany), the tools on the presses must run flawlessly. To save costs and time, BSH uses software from Schuler for calculating, optimizing, and simulating ram and transfer movements. With Metris Digisim Unlmtd, Schuler offers software for the calculation, optimization, and simulation of ram and transfer movements, which has been used in tool design at BSH since summer 2023. The advantage is that, in addition to the equipment at the location, others, for example in Spain and Turkey, can also be mapped, including those installations that do not come from the Schuler Group. Collision control ensures necessary safety distances"Our goal is to be able to represent a digital twin for all BSH press plants worldwide in the future in order to optimize the individual presses and their processes We have taken a significant step forward with Digisim," explains Georg Fries Senior Expert Stamping Forming Simulation at BSH Hausgeräte in Traunreut BSH can foresee the future of the production process," adds Johannes Klein who is involved in process management at Schuler the maximum stroke rates and the setting data for each press can also be calculated And the collision control ensures the necessary safety distances between grippers and tools." This now allows for a more press-friendly process "This saves energy," adds Leonhard Nedler from tool design at BSH Hausgeräte in Traunreut In addition to saving the costs that would result from a damaged tool The time it previously took to commission the tools can now be reduced thanks to the extensive simulation in advance Nedler and Fries are especially enthusiastic about the easy operation of the simulation software "We can easily export the exchange format from any software drag and drop allows for intuitive handling we see directly what changes on the press when we slightly adjust different parameters," explains Fries Press technology Availability as the highest good the design and simulation should take place simultaneously in the future BSH would already get initial statements on the stroke rate during the throughput planning The determined setting parameters can then be easily transferred to the press Klein conducted an online training with Fries and their team for the implementation of Digisim Unlmtd which was particularly well-received in Traunreut Just like the possibilities of the "View Only" function It now makes communication with colleagues from production easier: "We can now simply show how it will look—without the previous extensive documentation effort of simulation reports," explains Nedler especially when we use the service of external toolmakers." By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. Copyright © 2025 Vogel Communications Group Only when it runs does it make money. A press has to work and produce output. You don't want damage to it or the tool. Therefore, BSH has again invested in servo press technology with adjusted peripherals. Technical availability at 98 percentLike the first one the second press is also pimped with some intelligent solutions which serve solely to increase the availability of the plant to the maximum For example with the sensor solutions from Consenses: Among other things acceleration sensors and force measuring screws are installed Christian Mayer and Sascha Radloff (both Factory Cooking Traunreut) gain data from which measures can be derived that improve the longevity of the press and the tools The system is complemented by a press force monitoring from Unidor the transfer solutions come from Hagel Automation and the band layout was supplied by Schuler Band widths from 160 to 1400 millimeters are processed A new generation of motors from Aida makes the 2 even more dynamic than the 1 we have a 15 to 20 percent increase here," Mayer is pleased up to 40 strokes per minute are possible." Since all involved faculties have worked hand in hand in the interests of the customer Radloff and Mayer can already look at a technical availability of the plant of 98 percent directly after commissioning both Aida 1 (retrofitted here) and Aida 2 (from the start here) are equipped with Visual Die Protection from Schuler The camera-based monitoring system serves to protect against tool damage and machine downtime The system compares real-time images of the tools If it detects an anomaly (such as a fallen out stamp) the press stops immediately - even before closing the tool "This way we avoid costly tool crashes," explains Radloff The 4.0 solutions that BSH has installed all interlock and primarily serve to maintain the health of the press and tool If there is no anomaly that Visual Die Protection detects Mayer explains: "Consenses helps us see what happens to the tool during a stroke Here we detect the forces of the individual strokes in the millisecond range." This way conclusions can be drawn - for example A comparison of Aida 1 and 2 is also possible thanks to the data it should always be shown that the tools behave the same on both presses," says Mayer Only in one point does the new press have the edge over its older sister: When setting up It is tooled approximately every 3 to 4 hours the machine operators do not need 15 minutes That's 5 minutes faster than with the Aida 1 is that the ram on the Aida 2 can be adjusted faster for setup We designed it this way in the construction phase," reports Mayer Mayer and Radloff are very satisfied with this project 4.0 solutions coupled with servo press technology mean productivity By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy