The potential of geothermal mining is huge in the northern part of Bucharest, within the Ilfov region, said Ionut Tanase, member of Ilfov County Council. There are already exploration projects that have shown that there were optimal temperatures of around 90-100 degrees Celsius, where energy can be used for electricity production. The future projects sought by the Ilfov CJ include the use of geothermal resources in the Otopeni area for district heating and medical purposes.
At the conference “Oil&Gas and Geothermal – Transferable skills and technologies”, organized by Energynomics, Ionut Tanase mentioned several such projects; the one at the National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics “Ana Aslan” (Otopeni), the thermal heating of Henri Coanda (Otopeni) International Airport for which two exploration licenses have already been requested, district heating in the north of Bucharest, as well as other investments in the north-east of Ilfov county, in Gruiu, Snagov, Dascalu and Moara Vlasiei, especially for district heating and agriculture. “In Snagov and Moara Vlasiei temperatures can reach 90-100 degrees Celsius,” Tanase said.
The geothermal potential in Romania is associated with low-temperature geothermal systems, located in porous permeable formations such as Pannonian sandstone and clays specific to Câmpia de Vest and Valea Oltului, or in fractured carbonation formations specific to Oradea, Bors and Bucharest North (Otopeni).
“The first geothermal well in Romania was drilled in 1885 at a depth of 51 m, producing water at 49°C. The maximum flow rate of this well is 195 litres per second, but it has never been used to its capacity. This well is located at the Felix spa center, close to Oradea municipality and is still in operation. It was followed by three additional wells, one drilled in 1893 in Caciulata (Valea Oltului), producing water at a temperature of 37°C, the second in 1897 in Oradea, with a temperature of 29°C and the third in 1902 in Timisoara, with a temperature of 31°C,” he recalled.
Research on geothermal energy resources started in early 1960, based on a detailed geological program for hydrocarbon resources. Since then, more than 250 wells have been drilled at depths of between 800 and 3.500 meters and low-enthalpy geothermal resources with a temperature between 40 and 120°C have been discovered.
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A recent study by the University of Oradea identified 223 wells drilled after 1965. The total installed capacity of existing wells in Romania is approximately 480 MWth (for a reference temperature of 25°C). Currently, only around 200 MWth of 96 production wells with a temperature between 40 and 120 °C is used, Ionut Tanase said.
He presented the project worth about 2,1 million euros under which the Agrippa Ionescu Emergency Hospital in Balotesti benefited from a new heating system using geothermal resources, as well as the Therme amusement park project, which has benefited from a budget of EUR 29,5 million and uses wells at a depth of 3,1 km, with a temperature of 81 degrees Celsius.
The conference “Oil&Gas and Geothermal – Transferable skills and technologies” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners Chinook Consulting Services și Huawei.
150 people registered on the MyConnector platform to participate in the dialogue.
