Unlocking the Impermeable Reservoir: Lessons from a 30-Year Reservoir Engineer An Alphaxioms interview with Richard Joseph Holt, Principal Consultant in Reservoir Engineering at RESPEC . Context: Menengai East and Olkaria Central. Every geothermal developer knows the moment. The rig is gone and the money is spent. The well is drilled to depth, the temperature is there, and then the well will not flow. The heat is real, but the connection between the well and the reservoir is not. Wells like this sit at the centre of one of the most important questions in geothermal development: what do you do with a tight reservoir? Walk away and drill again, or find a way to unlock what is already there? To explore the question, Alphaxioms spoke with Richard Joseph Holt, Principal Consultant in Reservoir Engineering at RESPEC . Richard brings 30 years of global experience in geothermal energy. We framed our questions around two settings, Menengai East and Olkaria Central, and asked him how ...
Vulcan Energy secures land in Landau for its geothermal + lithium plant a major leap toward Europe’s carbon-neutral lithium for EVs ⚡
Vulcan Energy just cleared a big hurdle in its plan to create a homegrown, low-carbon battery supply chain for Europe. The company has secured approval to purchase the plot in Landau (Rhineland-Palatinate) for a combined Geothermal and Lithium Extraction Plant (G-LEP) — the physical site where geothermal heat and lithium will be produced side-by-side.
What happened (short version)
- On 11 September 2025 Vulcan announced it has secured approval from the City of Landau council to purchase the D12 industrial plot where it will build its G-LEP.
- This follows an earlier option agreement between the company and the city that had already reserved the site for Vulcan.
Why this matters — more than just land
Vulcan's model is unique: it uses geothermal brine (hot, lithium-bearing fluid underground) to produce both renewable heat/electricity and to extract lithium via water-based chemical processing. That allows lithium chemicals to be made with very low lifecycle CO₂ compared with conventional mined and processed lithium — a critical selling point for automakers chasing truly low-carbon EV supply chains.
The Landau G-LEP will be one of the physical anchors of that vision: local heat and electricity generation (reported building permits include a 30 MW geothermal plant and associated electrical substation) plus lithium extraction infrastructure. That tight integration is what enables the company to claim a path to carbon-neutral or near-zero carbon lithium.
Financing & policy tailwinds
Vulcan has also attracted substantial public support: the company secured €104 million in German government grants for its “Clean Lithium for Battery Cell Production” program earlier in 2025, part of a coordinated push by Berlin to strengthen Europe’s raw-materials sovereignty for batteries. That funding — paired with EU strategic project recognition — gives the Landau plan stronger chances of timely build-out.
What this means for Europe’s EV supply chain
- Reduced import dependence — Producing lithium inside the EU reduces exposure to long overseas supply chains and the emissions associated with them.
- Cleaner batteries — Lithium produced with geothermal energy can materially cut the carbon footprint of battery cells and therefore of EVs made with those cells.
- Industrial clustering — A Landau G-LEP creates local jobs, downstream chemical conversion activity (e.g., to lithium hydroxide), and strengthens links with European automakers that are already signing offtake/partnership agreements with Vulcan.
Risks & open questions
No project is risk-free. Key items to watch:
- Permitting & community acceptance: geothermal and DLE projects still require robust community engagement and environmental permitting (noise, traffic, subsurface risks). The Landau council approval to sell the land is a big step, but further permits and construction approvals remain.
- Scale-up & processing: piloting and small-scale production are different from industrial throughput — Vulcan must demonstrate consistent product quality at commercial volumes.
- Financing execution: public grants help, but large industrial plants need more capital (debt/equity/partners). Vulcan has been pursuing a multi-source financing package.
Bottom line
The Landau land approval is a concrete, high-visibility step from concept to construction for Vulcan's vision of Europe’s first integrated, low-carbon lithium supply sourced from local geothermal brines. If the company can navigate permitting, scale-up, and financing, Landau could become a blueprint for how regions produce battery materials with a dramatically smaller carbon footprint — an important piece in the puzzle of genuinely green electric mobility.
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