Poland has large untapped potential for utilising geothermal energy. The country estimates that up to 30% of its heating demand could be covered by geothermal heating.
According to estimates, geothermal resources in Poland. Country. Currently, there are 56 documented thermal water deposits, including 17 thermal water reservoirs. Only 25% of that potential is currently being tapped from 27 locations.
So why then is geothermal energy still only considered a dream for Poland?
“We see a growing interest in this type of renewable energy source, which gives hope that in the future we can expect further development of the technology, geothermal, and thus and geothermal”, explains Dr. Kazimierz Kujda, president of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (the National Fund).
The fund has launched special programs to support the development of geothermal energy in Poland.
The first is the financing of research grids from the geological fund and the second is the financing of renewable energy programs based on geothermal resources.
“In our opinion, in the future we should invest in the creation of geothermal heat plants that will supply hot water not only to large companies but also to smaller towns,” says Dr Kujda. He points out that similar to Western European countries, Poland focused on other renewables, including wind power. But geothermal resources in other countries in the region are not as good as in Poland, so a focus has been on wind and solar energy and these technologies have seen a big development. But for Poland, geothermal energy is a very desirable source of energy that we have so far not tapped into sufficientl, he emphasized.
The biggest problems in Poland are distribution and transmission networks. The overall high cost of investment resulted from the fact that the network had to be re-build. The first geothermal heating plant in Poland was established in 1993 in Podhale, the southermost region of the country. The 24-year-old plant has seen an increasing revenue each year. Heat production is based on three production holes and two reinjection wells. Thanks to this we can reach the heat energy to an increasing number of customers. Since 2008, our company has made a profit – says Wojciech Ignacok, President of PEC Geotermia Podhala?ska SA.
The first years of geothermal production are related to high investment costs, the largest part of which is the financing of research wells.
(soruce: ThinkGeoEnergy)
