Another Polish community looks at tapping geothermal for heating

The town of Brzesko in southern Poland is planning to drill a geothermal well near the hospital to investigate the potential for geothermal energy on the site, as reported locally. In the time of ever higher gas prices, it would be a chance for a cheap and ecological source of heating, so the paper. The local government has a license to drill the well, the problem is that it is an operation that will cost PLN 20 million (around USD 5 million). The larger city of Tarnów, about 30 km to the East of Brzesko has similar plans, expecting hot water resources near the Polish heating company MPEC.

The existence of geothermal resources in Brzesko has been known for four decades. Jan Musia? recalls that, as a primary school student, he witnessed hot water gushing from boreholes made near the hospital. – At that time, they were looking for crude oil or natural gas. For two or three days, the hot brine sprayed into the air before the workers could choke it, she recalls.

So far, there has been no opportunity to study the viability of the resource, because there is not enough money for it.

When Tomasz Latocha became the mayor of Brzesko in 2018, Jan Musia? reminded him of the underground resources. Today there is a chance to come back to the topic, because the Brzesko commune has been granted a license to drill a mining and appraisal well.

Geothermal energy as a chance to become independent from soaring gas prices

If everything was confirmed and the chemical composition of the water would allow it to be used in the heating system, it would be an important alternative to the more expensive gas. It would be a welcome break and cutting from the dependency of gas with its soaring prices – says Tomasz Latocha, the mayor of Brzesko.

In 2021, the commune paid PLN 971,000 (gross) for gas supplies. The tender for 2022 brought a bid from PGNiG for PLN 6.127 million gross. – This is absolutely barbaric! For the VAT alone, we would have to pay the state PLN 1.14 million, so we paid more than last year for gas supplies – Latocha is irritating. It considers canceling the tender, but there is no certainty that the second time the bid will be lower.

In order to be able to use alternative energy in the form of underground hot water resources, huge costs have to be incurred. It is estimated that the drilling will cost PLN 20 million. Brzesko will not find such money in his own budget. For comparison – this year, PLN 22.1 million has been planned for all investments here. In addition, the debt amounted to PLN 64.5 million at the end of 2021 (approx. 39% of planned revenues). The debt service alone this year will cost over PLN 1.8 million.

Local government officials from Brzesko hope that the money for the drilling will be obtained from external funds (e.g. in 2019, the S?kowa commune received PLN 17.6 million for such a purpose from the National Environmental Protection Fund, but … methane was found instead of hot water).

Shortly after the New Year, on January 3, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management announced a call for applications for subsidies for drilling drilling related to the exploration of thermal waters. It has PLN 70 million to distribute. Applications may be submitted by local governments and associations of municipalities until June 30, 2022.

– Renewable energy is the future. Of course, if the water had the right chemical parameters, one could even think about building a thermal pool, and the location of the springs near the hospital would allow the offer to be extended to include rehabilitation based on balneology, says Latocha.

There are more geothermal deposits in the regiopn

Tarnów, which is also suffering from drastic increases in gas prices, is also counting on heat from underground deposits. – If last year one and a half million PLN were spent on gas, now we should prepare PLN 7.5 million  – the president of Tarnów, Roman Ciepiela, enumerated a few days ago.

The borehole in Tarnów is planned in the area of ??Traktorowa Street in the Krzyz estate, where preliminary research has revealed hot water deposits. But also in this case there is a risk that if a well is drilled for PLN 20 million, the water may turn out to be unsuitable for use in the heating network due to chemical contamination.

– When I was working at the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection, a well was drilled next to Szczecin. Although the water had a high temperature, it was highly sulfurized and the local MPEC calculated that it would be cheaper for him to buy coal than to adapt this water for heating purposes – recalls Jan Musial.

It has been known about the geothermal deposits in Cikowice for several years. In 2006, Stefan Westrych, professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, bought a 13-hectare plot next to the Niepolomice Forest from the Bochnia commune. He had ambitious plans to build a holiday complex to match those in Podhale, but the topic got stuck 15 years ago. – So far, we have not found an investor willing to invest money – admits prof. Westrych.

Source: Gazeta Krakowska