Thermal water pipelines
Wiesbaden’s thermal water is an inexhaustible and important source of geothermal energy. While the water was mainly used for bathing, inhaling or drinking in the past, it is now also used to heat homes and buildings.
In fact, around one third of the water from the main springs is now used for heating. The water is supplied to consumers via a pumping station pipeline that is installed beneath Kranzplatz in the city centre. The enamelled cast-iron pipes that were laid during Germany’s imperial era have been replaced by synthetic structures in recent years. The new pipelines are highly resistant to the heavily corrosive thermal water.
Around 4.5 kilometres of thermal water pipes are installed throughout the city. One of the pipelines runs from the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, past the Kurhaus, through the Kurpark and all the way to the Thermalbad Aukammtal. The water has to climb 60 metres along the route before arriving at the thermal baths at around 45°C.
Another thermal water pipeline has led to Wiesbaden’s city hall since its renovation in 1987, where it is used for heating purposes.
Other public and private buildings have been heated with thermal water since 2009, such as the buildings on Kleine Schwalbacher Straße and the high-rise building on Rheinstraße / Kirchgasse. This is done by pumping the spring water from the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme to the so-called “local heating island” in the multi-storey car park on Coulinstraße. This is the centrepiece of the system: a 625 kW counter-current heat exchanger that warms the heating water. 435,000 kilowatt hours of heat were used in 2010, thereby saving 43,500 litres of heating oil or 122 tons of climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2).
