Drilling started for Erzurum geothermal project, Turkiye
Geothermal drilling platform established in Konakli Ski Center (source: Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality official website)
Carlo Cariaga
12 Oct 2022
Drilling works has started in Turkiye's Erzurum Palandoken, the winter tourism centre, by the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA).
In Erzurum, one of the winter tourism centres, Turkiye’s largest drilling platform in the field of geothermal was established. With the cooperation of Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality and General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA), geothermal resource exploration was started at 2,200 meters. The project cost is estimated to be 18 million TL (approx. USD 970,000).
In his speech at the ceremony, Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Zafer Aynali said, “Our Metropolitan Municipality continues to break new ground in Erzurum. 2200 meters deep drilling starts today for the first time in Erzurum’s history. This is one of the few ski centres in the world, Konakli ski resort. When we obtain hot water from geothermal, I hope that by integrating it into winter tourism, we will spread tourism not only in winter but also in the 12 months of the year. This will make a huge contribution to our city’s economy,” he said.
Bulent Tosun, MTA Trabzon Regional Manager, said: “Our drilling rig is capable of drilling to a depth of 3000 meters. We plan that the drilling we will do here will be around 2250 meters. But this drilling is in a position to go deeper when deemed necessary. The tower height of our machine is 37 meters and the tower carrying capacity is 200 tons. In our drilling, we will work on a 24-hour basis and in a 3-shift system. We aim to complete our drilling in 5 months. If the winter conditions are heavy or there are technical problems that we will encounter during the drilling, this period may be extended.”
According to the temperature and flow values of the geothermal fluid to be extracted from the planned well, it is aimed to implement geothermal-based projects in the region, especially in greenhouse cultivation, heating systems and many other areas.
Source: Erzurum Büyüksehir Belediyesi via our Turkish language platform JeotermalHaberler
