New geothermal heating plant in Konin, Poland completes construction

Source:ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News
Original URL:https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/new-geothermal-heating-plant-in-konin-poland-completes-construction/

MPEC Konin has completed the construction of a 8.1-MWth geothermal heating plant in Konin, Poland, supplying about 10% of the thermal energy requirement of Konin. This also marks the tenth geothermal heating plant in Poland, closely following the starts of operations of the Kolo heating plant earlier this year.

With this development, the city of Konin now has a third heating plant, complementing the biomass boilers of the Konin power plant and a municipal waste disposal plant. Based on its design, the Konin geothermal heating plant will generate approximately 8100 GJ per year. The city is also considering putting up recreational facilities around the heating plant, located in Pociejewo.

A huge but worthwhile investment

The construction of the heating plant, as well as the drilling of the Konin GT-3 injection well, was facilitated with funding from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOSiGW). However, efforts to explore for geothermal in Konin had started much earlier, with drilling of the first well completed back in 2015. Even then, the geothermal potential in Konin had been ascertained, with the well tapping into temperatures of up to 90 °C.

Slawomir Lorek, president of MPEC Konin, provided some details on how funding for the project was raised.

Of the PLN 67 million total investment for the project, PLN 26 million in funding an another loan of PLN 18 million came from the NFOSiGW. The local government then contributed PLN 4 million. The rest of the money from MPEC Konin.

“It is an expensive investment if we translate the total cost into the amount of installed capacity,” remarked Lorek.

However, Lorek also said that the heating company considered the value of geothermal as an energy source that is independent of geopolitics. MPEC Konin directly experienced the rise in biomass prices as one of the effects of the Russian occupation of Ukraine

Lorek also expressed optimism that the geothermal heating industry in Poland will continue to grow. With ten geothermal heating plants now built, the eleventh, in Turek, is already on its way. “We will close the year 2024 with 10 operational geothermal heating plants, but we would very much like to see another ten built within this decade,” concluded Lorek.

Source: Portal Samordzadowy and Geotermia2030.pl