Four areas for potential geothermal power generation discovered in Romania
Location of the main Romanian geothermal reservoirs (source: EGC 2013 Romania Country Report)
Alexander Richter
12 Oct 2020
The country of Romania has so far been mostly using geothermal for heating purposes, but two private companies have identified resource potential that could be utilised for power generation evaluating drilled oil wells in four regions in the country.
Most of the geothermal development in Romania in recent years has happened with funding by EEA grants and the Romanian Environmental Fund Administration. Romania has a small geothermal power generation unit of 50 kW in capacity. The plant a binary/ ORC unit in Oradea was commissioned in November 2012.
The installed geothermal heating capacity in district heating plants is today at around 158 MW thermal, for agriculture use 8 MW thermal and for balneology and other around 10 MW thermal.
In discussions with companies Drilling Risk Services Srl. and Aegis Srl. they report that they have successfully evaluated that wells that were drilled for oil in Romania and trust that these wells could provide sufficient output for geothermal power generationl.
The depth of the wells is between 2,700-5,000 m.The water temperature (at wellhead) is around 160 degrees Celsius. The hot water productive zones are placed around Mesozoic and Jurassic oil productive formations. The current processed informations estimate a production with a flow around 40 liters/second. Also the estimated life time is more than 50 years for economics.
The company is expected to release further details on its website at www.drillingrisks.com. The company is working on establishing a consulting and solution based service that could help Romania capitalize its geothermal energy potential. The company is seeking partners and investors to develop the first geothermal power project in Romania.
If you want to learn more: Info: +40 749 127 720 office@drillingrisks.com
Additional source: Country Report Romania, European Geothermal Energy Congress 2019
