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Future of planned geothermal heating project in Konin, Poland to be determined in November 2019

Future of planned geothermal heating project in Konin, Poland to be determined in November 2019 Visualization of the planned geothermal plant on island of Pociejewo, Konin/ Poland (source: Geotermia Konin Sp zo.o.)
Alexander Richter 12 Oct 2019

A planned geothermal district heating project in the city of Konin in central Poland is awaiting a decision of a national fund set up in Poland for geothermal development, which will determine if the project will see the light of day.

In a great overview article, Anna Chmurzynska of Termalni in Poland shares details on the planned geothermal heating project in Konin, Poland. The city is located in central Poland around half way between the capital Warsaw and the border to Germany.

The fate of geothermal energy in Konin will be determined in November 2019. At the end of August a conference “Geothermal – chance or trouble?” took place, which presented the current state of works on the creation of a geothermal heating plant. Information was also provided that the settlement of the matter of possible co-financing for the construction of the heating plant by the NFEPWM is to take place as early as November 2019. At the same time, work on the takeover of Geotermia Konin Sp z oo by MPEC in Konin is coming to an end.

Let’s briefly recall the history of Konin geothermal energy. The Geotermia Konin company was established in 2012 and its main goals included preparation of documentation, drilling and thermal water management. Initially, it was not expected to obtain water parameters favourable enough for water to be used in heating.

After drilling the test well, it turned out that the water temperature reaches 62 degrees Celsius at 35 g / l mineralization in aquifers located at a depth of 1.6 km. The results of the deposit efficiency tests were also very promising – as much as 300 – 500 m3 / h. It is worth noting that the second of the prospective aquifers, located at a depth of 2.6 km, has very favourable parameters: 97.5 degrees C at 150 g / l mineralization and high efficiency.

The presence of two aquifers, characterized by very promising parameters, means that Konin has a large geothermal potential in our country. Despite such excellent conditions for the occurrence of thermal waters, the following years brought not the construction of infrastructure and geothermal heating plant, but numerous changes in the concept of water management. The year 2015 was marked by the construction of a geothermal power plant, in later years the creation of a geothermal heating plant and the use of thermal waters in balneology became more likely.

Original plans

The original plans, assuming the launch of the plant as early as 2019, were thwarted by the lack of funding from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. The appeal against the negative assessment of the NFEPWM was also unsuccessful and Konin did not receive a grant of PLN 17 million (around EUR 3.9m). In addition, in 2018 the city of Konin rejected the application for co-financing of the project to develop the construction documentation of the graduation tower, spa park and Term Konin.

At the end of 2018, the legitimacy of the existence of Geotermia Konin SA was questioned and a decision was taken to take over the company by MPEC Konin. The main argument for such a solution was the fact that all documentation related to obtaining various types of funds for further development of geothermal energy was prepared by MPEC Konin. The liquidation process of the company began in February this year. The resolution on the merger of Geotermia Konin Sp z oo with MPEC Konin was adopted on September 19, 2019.

A little earlier, at the end of August 2019, a conference ‘Geothermal energy – opportunity or trouble’ was held, at which an action plan was presented in the case of positive opinion on plans for the energetic use of thermal waters in Konin. The construction of the heating plant would consume PLN 46 million net (around EUR 10.5m). Under this amount, an injection well and connections to the municipal heating network would also be made. As in August this year the building permit for the heating plant became valid, now Konin is only awaiting the decision of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.

Granting a grant of 56% of the total investment would require a lot of money from the city, but it would open the way to ecologically clean heat. The planned investment implementation period is from 2019 to 2022. After completing the project, Konin would become one of the few Polish cities heated almost exclusively with heat from ecological sources.

Diagram of the city’s heat supply

After 2022, the planned scheme of supplying heat to the city is as follows:

  • biomass blocks of the Konin power plant with an installed capacity of approx. 110 MWt, annual heat production: approx. 900,000 GJ,
  • municipal waste incineration plant – installed capacity: 13.6 MWt , enabling annual production of approximately 140,000 GJ,
  • Pociejewo geothermal heating plant with installed capacity of 8.1 MWt, producing 160,000 GJ of thermal energy annually.

Visualization of the project for the construction of geothermal infrastructure on the island of Pociejewo. Geotermia Konin Sp zo.o.

The expected environmental effect of the project implementation is a reduction of CO2 emissions at 6750 Mg / year.

The decision to grant funding for the construction of a geothermal heating plant will be made in November 2019. We will then find out whether it will be possible to implement an ambitious plan to make Konin’s heating network environmentally friendly.

Source: GlobeEnergia