Solar to power deep-well geothermal heat exchange in Poland

Project kick off at Sekowa, Poland, June 2, 2021 (source: sekowa.pl)

Following news on the unfortunate case of an unproductive well drilled for a planned geothermal project in Poland, the Polish government is now supporting a revamp of the project as a hybrid project.

The plan is to use a deep-borehole heat exchanger. The heat pump attached will be powered with a solar PV installation as reported by PV Magazine. With that the hope is to revamp the project and deliver renewable energy fuelled district heating.

The Sekowa project drilled a well, Sekowa GT-1 to a depth of 3,000 meters in Gmina Sekowa, Gorlice, Poland. The well was drilled by Exalo Drilling between May and September 2020. The drilling was co-financed by the Natioanl Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.

The target for the project was to extract water with a temperature of around 60 degrees Celsius and a capacity of 40-70 cubic meters. Various partners then evaluated ways to utilise the well drilled for heating purposes nevertheless. A model utilising heat pumps was then developed and officially kicked off as project on June 2, 2021, as reported by the city’s website. The target is to derive heat generated from the heat pumps to deliver 60 degrees C water for use nearby. With that hybrid approach sufficient hot water can be produced for buildings, a recreational center, which includes swimming pools in Sekowa.

Source: PV Magazine and Sekowa.pl