German government ignites the “turbo” for geothermal energy

The German Geothermal Acceleration Act is inching closer to completion. 

On 6 August, the German Federal Cabinet approved the draft bill to accelerate the expansion of geothermal plants, heat pumps and heat storage facilities and to amend further legal framework conditions for the climate-neutral expansion of heat supply. The legislative package consists of a draft bill of a new principal act, the German Geothermal Acceleration Act (GeoBG-E), as well as draft bills to amend in particular the German Federal Mining Act (BBergG-E) and the German Water Resources Act (WHG-E). The bills have been in the parliamentary process ever since. The first reading took place in the Bundestag on 9 October 2025. The public hearing in the responsible Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy (Ausschuss für Wirtschaft und Energie) has been concluded. The bill is expected to be passed before the end of this year.

Background and aim of the legislative proposal

A large proportion of the fossil fuels consumed in Germany is used for heating buildings and for industrial purposes. Renewable energies currently account for less than a fifth of the energy used to heat buildings. According to the German Heat Planning Act (WPG), the heat from renewable energies, amongst other sources, is expected to account for 50 % of annual net heat generation in heating networks on average throughout Germany from 1 January 2030. Currently, less than 2 % of heat is obtained from geothermal energy and environmental heat despite the fact that geothermal energy is considered a domestic, climate-neutral, inexhaustible source of energy that is available all year round and is therefore safe.

According to the coalition agreement, heat supply is to be further defossilised and the potential of geothermal energy is to be exploited more fully. According to the bill, this is to be achieved in particular by simplifying and accelerating planning and approval procedures. Many of the planned provisions also serve to implement the European Renewable Energy Directive.

The main provisions of the bill

The planned legislative package is intended to help accelerate the expansion of geothermal plants, heat pumps, heat storage facilities and heat pipes. To this end, planning and approval procedures are to be simplified and accelerated primarily by means of the following provisions.

Overriding public interest in geothermal plants

Section 4 GeoBG-E classifies plants for the exploration or extraction of deep geothermal energy (> 400 m depth) and near-surface geothermal energy (≤ 400 m depth), heat pumps and heat storage facilities as being in the overriding public interest until net greenhouse gas neutrality is achieved in 2045. This provision is, inter alia, consistent with the provisions in section 2 German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) for plants for generating electricity from renewable energies and in section 2 (3) WPG for certain heat pipes. The plants covered by section 4 GeoBG-E are thus recognised as having an overriding public interest, as are wind turbines, for example. As a result, the competent authority must take the interest in these plants into account as a matter of priority when weighing up the interests to be protected. This includes, in particular, reaching decisions relating to water or nature conservation law, such as on the granting of a water law permit or an exemption from access prohibitions under species protection law.

Eased restrictions for vibroseis

Seismic exploration can affect wild animals, wild animals of the strictly protected species and European bird species and is therefore subject to restrictions under species protection law. In order to enable the competent authorities to carry out a quicker and simpler assessment in this regard, section 6 GeoBG-E clarifies that exploration using vibroseis, whereby so-called seismic vibrator trucks travel along fixed routes and emit sound waves into the ground at specific vibration points, does not typically cause deliberate disturbance to wild animals within the meaning of section 39 (1) no. 1 German Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG), which is prohibited as a matter of principle. This clarification is welcome, as the noise generated in the process is in fact not typically intended to disturb any animals that may be in the vicinity, but rather to identify potential sites for geothermal projects. Section 6 GeoBG-E clarifies that seismic exploration using seismic vibrator trucks on paved roads and paths does not generally cause significant disturbance to wild animals of strictly protected species and European bird species, provided that ecological construction supervision is carried out. This legal presumption is based on the short-term and temporary impact of seismic vibrator trucks on animals and is intended to enable their use throughout the year. Ecological construction supervision ensures that exploration is carried out in accordance with the required standards and as delicately as possible.

Section 7 GeoBG-E also deals with vibroseis and requires property owners and other authorised users to tolerate, among other things, the temporary placement of measuring equipment and markings on the property as well as the use of measuring vehicles on private roads. The project developer is accordingly entitled to enter and drive on the property or roads for these purposes. This provision is also welcome. It means that project developers no longer have to locate the individual property owners and other authorised users and ask for their consent to the exploration work, as has been the case up to now.

Equivalence of heat and gas pipes under procedural law

Under current law, the installation and operation of heat pipes is often not subject to authorisation, unless specific environmental permits are required. Only for certain heat pipes does section 65 German Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVPG) in conjunction with no. 19.7 of Annex 1 provide for a planning approval or planning permission requirement, depending on whether or not there is an obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment.

In order to prevent the expansion of geothermal plants, among other things, from not taking place within the same timeframe as the construction of the heat pipes required for distribution, it should now be possible to implement these more quickly. To this end, section 8 GeoBG-E provides for a separate planning approval or planning permission requirement. The relevant procedures are to be simplified in line with the provisions already applicable to gas pipes under the German Energy Act (EnWG), with which the authorities should therefore be familiar. Specifically, section 8 GeoBG-E stipulates that the installation and operation of heat pipes that fall under no. 19.7 or no. 19.8 of Annex 1 of the UVPG require planning approval or, if there is no obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment, planning permission. The references to the EnWG mean that discussion meetings, for example, are cancelled or obligations to tolerate preparatory work for heat pipes are imposed under certain conditions.

However, it remains unclear which heat pipes are precisely supposed to be covered by the new regulation , as the reference to no. 19.7 of Annex 1 of the UVPG refers to heat pipes for transporting steam or hot water from primarily conventional power plants and therefore not to plants for geothermal energy extraction. Also, the reference to no. 19.8 of Annex 1, which covers certain long-distance water pipelines, seems somewhat unclear. Long-distance water pipelines are likely to refer primarily to pipelines for the long-distance transport of water and not heat (transported in water). It remains to be seen whether this legal uncertainty will be resolved in the further legislative process so that the “turbo” can be ignited.

Legal protection and legal remedies 

Finally, section 9 GeoBG-E stipulates that legal remedies against, for example, authorisation decisions for geothermal plants, heat pumps, heat storage facilities and heat pipes have no suspensive effect, i.e. they do not "affect" the authorisation decision, at least not for the time being. An application for a suspensive effect must not only be filed within one month, but must also be substantiated. In addition, section 10 GeoBG-E introduces a new first-instance jurisdiction of the higher administrative courts for deep geothermal plants (> 400 m depth) and heat pumps with a thermal output ≥ 500 kilowatts. This eliminates one of three instances, which represents an important step towards faster final binding decisions in the field of geothermal energy. The final binding nature of authorisations is a decisive factor in project financing.

Simplification of mining law procedures

In addition to the introduction of the GeoBG-E as a principal act, the legislative package provides for the following amendments to the German Federal Mining Act (BBergG):

• In order to speed up mining authorisation procedures, section 15 BBergG is to be supplemented to the effect that the competent mining authority may assume that another authority involved in the mining authorisation procedure does not wish to comment if it has not submitted a statement within two months. The mining authority nevertheless remains obliged to take into account late comments from other authorities if these are relevant for the decision. Section 57e BBergG-E contains a similar provision for the approval procedure for various operating plans.
• Section 52 BBergG regulates the requirement for main operating plans and provides for a regular period of validity of two years. With the planned revision, it should now generally be possible to draw up main operating plans for geothermal energy extraction for four to eight years. This should and likely will lead to a reduction in workload not only for the mining authorities but also for the entrepreneurs. The new regulation continues to allow the main operating plan to be drawn up for an even longer period than eight years.
• A key priority for the legislature is ensuring coverage against damage in connection with geothermal projects. In line with the coalition agreement, it should be ensured that mining damage is fully covered in the future. To this end, the new version of section 56 BBergG gives mining authorities the power to demand proof of insurance cover for potential mining damage from geothermal energy companies, with membership in a private subsidence insurance company (Bergschadensausfallkasse) being accepted as proof in particular. It is questionable whether this new regulation will actually increase the intended social acceptance of geothermal energy or whether it will instead lead to such projects being perceived as particularly risky.
• Section 57e BBergG contains various procedural rules for the approval of certain operating plans. Its new version sets various maximum time limits (some of which are shorter than the current legal framework) for the mining authority, e.g. for deciding on approval applications or checking the completeness of application documents. This is intended to significantly improve procedural transparency and planning security for project developers.
• The proposed amendment to section 51 BBergG will enable the mining authorities to waive the otherwise applicable obligation to submit an operating plan for larger heat generation projects under certain conditions. In this way, the legislature aims to create greater legal certainty for project developers.

Simplifications also in water law

Last but not least, the legislative package provides for a few amendments to the German Water Resources Act (WHG). These relate to the standardization of water and mining law procedures (keyword: maximum time limits for decisions on the granting of water law permits and the review of the completeness of application documents (see. section 11a (8) WHG-E) and the simplification of bureaucratic processes by classifying certain water uses as exempt from permits in principle (see section 46 (1) sentence 1 no. 1 and section 49 (1) sentences 3 and 4 WHG-E), e.g. the extraction, conveyance or discharge of groundwater for domestic use, including heat supply via the extraction of heat from the water. This is intended to give priority to smaller heat pumps.

In addition, section 11b WHG-E introduces the figure of the project manager. This person supports and reduces efforts for the authority in the procedure without taking decisions themselves. The provision is based on emission control law, which already requires a project manager for approval procedures under the German Emission Control Act (BImSchG).

Next steps in the legislative process

The bill was referred to the committees after the first reading in the Bundestag. At the public hearing held by the responsible Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy on 5 November 2025, experts offered both praise and criticism. It remains to be seen to what extent the legislature will refine the draft in the further course of the legislative process. The legislative package is scheduled to come into force this year – we will keep you up to date.

You can find out more about this in our blog series on Decarbonisation of Industry. You can subscribe to this blog series via the RSS feed to be informed about new posts.