Drilling to begin for geothermal heat storage in Litomerice, Czechia

City square in Litomerice, Czech Republic (source: flickr/ jamretsam324, creative commons)

Drilling is set to begin in Litomerice, Czech Republic for a geothermal energy storage and collection project as part of the EU-funded Piloting Underground Seasonal Heat Storage In geothermal reservoirs (PUSH-IT) initiative. The initial phase of the SYNERGYS project will involve the drilling two shallow (550 meters and 200 meters) exploratory wells that will provide data for the design of the overall system.

A robust monitoring network

Measurements that will be made in the exploratory wells will help determine the abundance of groundwater in the area and the direction of the flow. System parameters like the depth and number of wells to be drilling and their overall efficiency can then be determined. About 500 meters of core will be collected from the deeper well which will providing insight the total thermal capacity for storage of the system.

“Both wells will subsequently be used for long-term monitoring of marginal conditions. This will ensure the safe operation of the entire facility, and the data obtained will also be used for the following amendment of the legislation,” said Zden?k Venera, director of the Czech Geological Service.

The monitoring network will be expanded to include additional wells located on the edge of each well field, as well as its center. Together with the existing seismic network, this creates a unique test location that also serves a fully functional heat source for the existing district heating network.

“The scientific institutions involved in the project share and evaluate the information obtained, which in the future will be a great benefit not only for Litomerice, but for the entire Czech Republic, with an overlap in other countries where geothermal energy is already being used on a larger scale,” commented Professor Tomáš Fischer, Director of the RINGEN Center.

Years in the making

The implementation of the geothermal project in Litomerice has been planned for many years. The project has gone through legislative changes, different financing options, and the changing needs of society. The drilling work had been delayed by about a year because of the challenge of identifying a drilling contractor.

“For a number of months, we were unable to find a contractor for the tender,” explained Project Manager Antonín Tym. “The number of suitable companies, professionally and technologically sufficiently equipped, is limited. In addition, the drilling sector is overloaded, which is also reflected in the number of offers. However, thanks to related projects financed by European funds, preparatory work was already underway during 2022, and thus there was no major delay in the schedule.”

“Thanks to the PUSH-IT project, it was possible to finance the first stage, which includes two exploratory wells that will provide data for the design of the structure, the total number and the depth of the main wells that will already be used for storing and collecting heat,” added Tym.

“This will significantly increase the quality of the overall design and a whole range of innovations will be applied, both in drilling and in the equipment and construction of wells,” emphasized Professor Fischer.

Source: Litomerice