Geothermal drilling in Kosice, Slovakia moves to testing phase
Kosice, Slovakia (source: flickr/ Ben Bawden, creative commons)
Carlo Cariaga
25 May 2026
Long-term well testing is set to begin for three new geothermal wells to evaluate their parameters for district heating supply in Kosice, Slovakia.
Drilling of three geothermal wells has been completed in Kosice, Slovakia, and the project will now move on to long-term hydrodynamic testing. According to the original plans, project partners GEOTERM KOSICE and MH Teplarensky holding aim to build a 30-MW geothermal heating plant that will supply the city of Kosice starting 2029.
Drilling operations started in October 2025 and lasted approximately seven months. The three deviated wells (GTD-4, GTD-5, and GTD-6) were drilled to depths between 2900 to 3600 meters. Based on short-term pumping tests, the wells discharge thermal waters at 125 to 135 ºC at flowrates of 55 to 60 L/s. Three exploratory geothermal wells, which were drilled from 1998 to 1999, are also part of the testing program.
MND Drilling Services, the main drilling contractor, stated that the work was completed a month earlier, resulting in savings relative to the planned budget.
Andrea Devanová Placková, spokeswoman for the MH Teplárenský holding, said, the next phase of the project will be the construction of a 16-kilometer heating pipeline that will connect the wells to the heating plant, as well as a heat exchanger station. A public tender had already been announced for this.
The project had received funding support of EUR 56.2 million the European Commission’s Just Transition Fund. About EUR 12 million of the funding will go towards the drilling phase, while the remaining EUR 44.2 million is allotted for the construction of surface infrastructure. A budget of EUR 35 million was estimated for the drilling phase of the geothermal heating project.
Source: Kosice Online
