2023. Március 29., Auguszta
„Geothermal research in Drava basin – HUHR/0901/2.1.3./0006”
Lead Beneficiary: Somogy County Local Government
Partners: Baranya County Local Government
Zala County Local Government
University of Pécs
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
Total budget of the project: 499.285 euro
Community funding: 424.392,24 Euro
State contribution: 45.327,76 Euro
Duration of the project: 01.05.2010. – 30.04.2012.
Details:
Geothermal resource assessment is a quantitative estimate of the thermal energy that might be recovered from the Earth and used economically at some reasonable future time, especially in the Drava Basin. A resource assessment provides the framework for setting long-term energy policy and for strategic decisions made by industry and government. Hungary, one of the central and eastern European countries, has significant quantities of low and medium enthalpy (30–171°C) geothermal reserves suitable for direct uses (greenhouse heating, sanitary hot water supply, aquaculture, etc.) and power generation. Hungary has the biggest underground thermal water reserves and low-to-medium enthalpy geothermal potential in Europe. Geothermal resource assessment is a quantitative estimate of the thermal energy that might be recovered from the Earth and used economically at some reasonable future time, especially in the Drava Basin.
The location of the project is the Drava basin along the Hungarian and Croatian border. Duration of the proposed project is 2 years. End-user in this context is any private or official entity (company, institute, and/or municipality) that would be interested in making use of the findings of this project. The end-user in lieu contribution to the project would be to supply it with data that might help identify and define the diverse end-user needs. The main result of the project is an open access, free database. This is an up-to-date, user oriented, Windows based software to handle the data. An official website is also a result of the project. Furthermore brochures of the project will be edited and published, and several different studies will be made. We also plan to publish a research article in an international journal, and a monograph. Educational exhibitions of geothermal energy are planned. Geothermal map will be published as well.
Regarding renewable energies, Hungary and Croatia have limited renewable energy potential, principally in the form of biomass and geothermal energy. Despite this limited potential, and like other EU countries, Hungarian government is interested in the potential benefits from renewable energy as well as the Croatian (non-EU) government. In the economic point of view, the huge geothermal resources on the border could be exploited with one well and share the development costs. Follow the rules of the EU environmental policy wil be good for both countries. Croatia as a candidate country of EU will be benefited through this project for joining the EU in the future.
Objectives of the project:
A resource assessment provides the framework for setting long-term energy policy and for strategic decisions made by industry and government. The aim of the project to collect more comprehensive information on geothermal systems, particularly those located on the border lands, using surface studies and data of past exploratory drillings. Conduct further research on the nature of geothermal systems, with an emphasis on the factors controlling their formation and evolution. Utilize the results of this work to improve estimates of undiscovered resources. Conduct focused studies on the potential of unconventional geothermal resources, particularly Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Evaluate the viability of heat extraction techniques for heat extraction in varied thermal, geologic and tectonic settings.
Outputs, results:
The main result of the project is an open access, free database. This is an up-to-date, user oriented, Windows based software to handle the data. An official website is also a result of the project. The website is continuously maintained, the latest news, results, publications are uploaded to it. Furthermore brochures of the project will be edited and published, and several different studies will be made (e.g. Classification of the boreholes by physical, technical, economic and environmental parameters). We also plan to publish a research article in an international journal (e.g. Geothermics), and a monograph (book). Educational exhibitions of geothermal energy are planned in the county capitals and other regional centers. Finally, a geothermal map of the border region will be published as well.
The entire study is available ont he webpage of the project: www.geo.dravamedence.hu.