| Title | Geothermal Energy Use, Country Update for Slovenia |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rajver, D; Lapanje, A; Rman, N; Prestor, J |
| Year | 2016 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | geothermal resources, direct uses, reinjection, geothermal heat pumps, development, Slovenia |
| Abstract | Geothermal energy use in Slovenia has been followed on regular basis since 1994. Only a small progress was achieved in geothermal development during the last three years, in its northeastern part, belonging to the Pannonian Basin geothermal region. New geothermal borehole was drilled there with good characteristics and depth of 1.2 km. Greenhouse and soil heating of the tomato production has been active since 2013 at Renkovci from a borehole drilled there in 2011, while two wells (a production and reinjection borehole) for the planned district heating of some parts of the Murska Sobota town are currently inactive. They all tap thermal water from the Late Miocene (Pannonian-Pontian) sand aquifer with temperatures of 55 to 65°C. The installed capacity and annual energy use of the 34 users amounts to 65.62 MWt and 486 TJ. More efficient use of thermal water is foreseen due to implementation of concession fees in 2015 for thermal water utilization, which will probably lead to lower annual energy use in 2016. Greater progress is visible in shallow geothermics, where the number of smaller geothermal heat pump (GHP) units of typically 12 kW is around 9,038 with 112.6 MWt capacity and 599.4 TJ/yr energy use (Dec. 2015). The number of greater GHP systems with heat pumps of rated power over 20 kW is in constant increase during the last 10 years, resulting in 24.0 MWt and 132.7 TJ/yr, with some 312 systems accounted for so far, mostly in public or private buildings (schools, kindergardens, factories, etc). The total numbers for both deep and shallow geothermics are 202.2 MWt and 1,218.1 TJ/yr. Drilling activity was much lower with ca 1.6 km of new boreholes, both production and exploration, including the temperature gradient boreholes. It’s expected that trend of energetic renovation of older buildings and installation of the GSHP units will continue in the future as one of the obligations to reach the renewable energy targets. |