| Abstract |
The efforts to find geothermal resources in the Podhale Region were begun in the late 1980ís. The well, Banska IG-1, drilled in 1981, served as the starting point for an expansion of those research activities. A pilot geothermal energy plant was put into operation in 1993. In 1993, Geotermia Podhalanska company (GP) was founded, and the pilot project including the first distribution network for 20 customers, was constructed. The geothermal district heating system in Podhale is exploiting very reach geothermal reservoir, consist of limestone and dolomite of the Tertiary age, located at depth of 2200 to 3400 m.b.g.l. Water temperature is 87 C, and a yield from a single well is up to 550 m3/h. In November 2001 a first geothermal heat was delivered to the customers in Zakopane. Investment costs has already reached level of 45 ML Euro. Installed capacity is 67 MWt, heat production in 2002 reached 250 TJ/year, with a target production of 500 TJ/year in 2005. Thanks to the implementation of the geothermal heating in 2002 annual and wintertime ambient concentrations of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2) in Zakopane has dropped by 50 % in comparison to the situation before the geothermal heating was in place. From technical point of view, excellent performance but economy of the project suffers from much lower heat demand of the heat customers that estimated and new taxation on the district heating network. |