- European Investment Bank to provide up to €45 million to finance innovative geothermal project in Bavaria, backed by the InvestEU program.
- The project, which is also receiving a grant from the EU Innovation Fund, will provide low-carbon heat for the town of Geretsried and the entire region.
- In comparison with conventional geothermal energy, this new technology can be used almost anywhere.
Luxembourg/Geretsried. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is supporting the innovative Eavor-LoopTM geothermal energy project in Bavaria with a loan of up to €45 million. The Canadian technology company Eavor is using its Closed-Loop technology on a commercial scale for the first time in the town of Geretsried. Unlike conventional geothermal energy, the heat in the Eavor-LoopTM does not come from underground water or steam reservoirs. Instead, the company extracts heat directly from the bedrock through boreholes.
The EU Innovation Fund is providing a grant of €91.6 million for the construction of the first commercial Eavor LoopTM . The EIB loan is secured by the InvestEU program . Other financial backers include the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), ING Bank N.V. (ING), and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (Mizuho); the Japanese Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) company is providing the security. The financing complies with the principles for green loans of the Loan Market Association. The EIB, JBIC, ING and Mizuho are providing €130 million in all. The borrower was advised by Green Giraffe Advisory on the structuring of the financing package.
The Eavor-LoopTM resembles a giant underground radiator. It works with two drilling rigs that drill vertically to a depth of 4,500 to 5,000 meters. There, the boreholes are deviated horizontally. There will be 12 parallel branches, each about 3,000 to 3,500 meters long. Around 90 kilometers will be drilled for the loop system (a total of 320–360 kilometers for the four loops). Water is then fed into the huge radiator from above.
The Eavor-Loop works with a thermosiphon. In this process, the water in the lower part of the system is heated by the plutonic rock and rises naturally to the surface, where it can either be used directly for district heating networks or to generate electricity.
The system produces fewer emissions than conventional geothermal plants because no new fluids need to be introduced. In addition, pumps are not required. However, a certain type of plutonic rock is needed in order to conduct the heat.
Before the project started in Germany, the company built a pilot facility in the province of Alberta in 2019. “Eavor-Lite” has been in operation for five years. The company is planning a total investment of up to €350 million. The Eavor-LoopTM can be used to supply heat to homes and businesses. In addition, a local power plant will convert the geothermal heat into electricity. Eavor has signed a purchase agreement with the local heating provider and plans to start supplying heat in 2026 and then gradually increase that amount. A second project in Germany is already at the development stage. It is expected to cover 15 to 20 percent of district heating needs in Hanover, Lower Saxony.

Nicola Beer, EIB Vice President, who oversees funding in Germany: “In addition to wind and solar power, geothermal energy is a natural, stable and reliable source of clean, renewable energy. The Eavor-LoopTM is therefore helping Germany to transition to a CO2-neutral energy system and to move away from fossil fuels. At the same time, it is increasing energy security for households and businesses.”
Wopke Hoekstra, EU Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth: “Once again, this shows the valuable work of the Innovation Fund in financing groundbreaking projects to reduce emissions.” The EIB loan of up to €45 million and the Innovation Fund grant of €91.6 million will enable us to implement the innovative Eavor-LoopTM geothermal technology in Bavaria. The project offers thousands of households and businesses a nearly emission-free heat supply. It is an example of the key role that geothermal energy will play on the road to net zero. Switching from fossil fuels to geothermal energy can decarbonize the EU’s energy supply and reduce our energy costs.”
Daniel Mölk, Managing Director of Eavor GmbH: “We are impressed and honored that the EIB is now co-financing our project in Geretsried in addition to the EU Innovation Fund. Europe has seen that the Eavor-LoopTM is a scalable key technology that will help us achieve climate neutrality and significantly more energy security on this continent.”
Background information
The EIB
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term financing arm of the European Union. Its shareholders are the member states. It provides funding for sound investments that contribute to the EU’s core objectives . EIB projects foster competitiveness, sustainable development and social and territorial cohesion. They promote innovation and accelerate an equitable transition to climate neutrality. In 2023 the EIB Group, which includes the European Investment Fund (EIF) , signed a total of €88 billion for over 900 projects. These funds are expected to trigger investments of around €320 billion, reach 400,000 companies, and create or secure 5.4 million jobs.
All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Agreement. The EIB Group does not finance investments in fossil fuels. In its European Investment Fund (EIF), it has pledged to mobilize approximately €1 trillion for climate and environmental sustainability in the ten years leading up to 2030, and is well on its way to achieving this goal. More than half of its annual financing is earmarked for projects that directly contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to a healthier environment. About half of the EIB’s funds go to the EU’s cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower. In this way, the bank promotes equitable growth to equalize living standards.
InvestEU
The InvestEU program mobilizes substantial long-term public and private financing in the European Union that sustainably strengthens the economy. This will enable additional investments that correspond to EU priorities, such as the European Green Deal, the digital transformation, and support for SMEs. InvestEU brings together a wide range of EU financial instruments under one roof, making it easier to finance investments in Europe, while also increasing efficiency and flexibility. The program has three components: the InvestEU fund, the InvestEU advisory hub, and the InvestEU portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented by various financial partners. With the help of an EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion, additional investments of at least €372 billion are to be secured
Eavor
Eavor (pronounced “Ever”) is a technology-based energy company committed to a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future worldwide. Its Eavor-Loop™ system represents the world’s first truly scalable form of clean, plannable, baseload-capable and flexible heat and electricity. Eavor bypasses many of the problems that have previously hindered conventional geothermal energy. The company runs a harmless working fluid through a giant underground radiator in a closed circuit and completely isolated from the environment. This radiator collects the naturally occurring geothermal heat and transports it upwards to a heat exchanger. Eavor is backed by equity investments from a number of leading global power producers, investors, developers and venture capital funds, including Vickers Venture Partners, BP Ventures, Chubu Electric Power, BDC Capital, Temasek, BHP Ventures, OMV, the Canada Growth Fund, Kajima Corporation, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
Media contact
EIB
Donata Riedel
d.riedel@eib.org, phone: +49 30 590 04 79-0, cell: +49 151 14659021,
Internet: www.eib.org/press – Press Office: +352 4379 1 – press@eib.org
European Commission
Flora Matthaes, flora.matthaes@ec.europa.eu, phone: +32 2 298 39 51
Eavor
Alexander Land
presse@eavor.de
Phone.: +49 211 16975925
www.eavor.de and www.eavor-geretsried.de
Eavor GmbH is a subsidiary of Eavor Technologies Inc. Its task is to develop geothermal heat and power generation projects in Germany. Eavor Technologies Inc., the parent company, was founded in Canada in 2017 by specialists from the energy sector. Numerous groundbreaking patents in drilling technology and in the sealing of boreholes form the foundation of Eavor-Loop™ technology. In Geretsried, Eavor™ is writing the next chapter of the energy transition. The Eavor-Loop™ is a geothermal power station with a closed system. In an underground heat exchanger, a heat transfer fluid circulates independently in the plutonic rock. Thermal water is not required.