| Abstract |
The Podhale region (S-Poland) is a main tourist and recreation centre in the country. Along with the neighbouring areas on the Slovakian side of the Tatra Mts. it forms a very attractive international tourist and leisure destination in Central Europe. The Podhale region is also treated as a cradle for geothermal energy use for heating in Poland. The project has been developed since the end of 1980s starting from the exploration stage through the Experimental Geothermal Plant to large commercial scale. It is of essential significance to stop the degradation of Podhale ecosystem affected by intensive pollution caused by burning large quantities of hard coal for heating. The target geothermal heat sales will be around 600 TJ. Currently the system supplies considerable part of heat receivers in Zakopane (main town of the region) and some receivers in other localities. Further connections are underway. More than fifteen years of the project development brought many results of both cognitive and practical meaning for the proper long-term exploitation of the geothermal reservoir and the heating network operation. Apart from heating, important prospective geothermal uses are bathing and balneotherapy. However, for many years recreation and healing facilities and services based on geothermal waters were missing. Till 2001 only one geothermal bathing pool operated in Zakopane. In several recent years a long-awaited investments started and some recreation centres were launched. It is a very important line of applications since an extremely big demand for such kind of tourist offer. It extends the scope of geothermal energy uses and contributes to economic development of the region. The paper introduces main geological and geothermal aspects of the Podhale project, main project’s assumptions, technological, environmentally benign, economic and some other issues. It points out an importance of geothermal energy implementation both for ecological heating and recreation in the areas of special natural and tourist values. The experiences and lessons learned during the project realization are important for the cases of other similar systems and projects also in Central Europe. |