Croatia’s first geothermal district heating project planned in Bjelovar

Bjelovar, Croatia (source: flickr/ János Korom Dr., creative commons)

A feasibility study is underway for a planned geothermal heating plant in the city of Bjelovar in Croatia. Bjelovar Mayor Dario Hrebak is optimistic about the project, citing that data collected from 60 years of oil and gas exploration indicates that Bjelovar has good potential for geothermal.

The geothermal heating plant is envisioned to be the first geothermal district heating project in Croatia. It is planned to be constructed at an area next to the city’s stadium. This is an ideal location because it is within an 800-meter radius from a large number of public buildings and energy consumers. Hrebak explained that this will make the necessary infrastructure relatively smaller.

With the feasibility study already ongoing, a public procurement for a contractor is planned to be announced sometime within December 2022. By mid-2023, drilling is expected to begin. Drilling will take a little more than a month and is expected to tap a geothermal source with a temperature of at least 70 degrees Celsius. If the initial project is successful, two to four more such thermal power plants are planned in Bjelovar over the coming years.

The project is being co-financed by the “Energy and Climate Change” Programme of the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union (EU) Funds, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland as donor countries and the programme partner of the Hrvoje Pozar Energy Institute.

A new geothermal heating project in Bjelovar will make it the very heat of geothermal in Croatia. The only geothermal power plant in the country – the 16.5 MW Velika Ciglena – also falls within the territory of Bjelovar.

Source: Total Croatia News