Microsoft word - 2_bendea c_bendea g_rosca_cucueteanu

JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 CURRENT STATUS OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PRODUCTION
AND UTILIZATION IN ROMANIA
BENDEA C.*, BENDEA G.*, ROSCA M.*, CUCUETEANU D.**, University of Oradea, 1 Universităţii Street, Oradea, Romanian Geoexchange Society, 30 Petrache Poenaru Street, 051793 Bucharest, cbendea@uoradea.ro , gbendea@uoradea.ro, mrosca@uoradea.ro, Abstract: The paper presents the both the
technology and used reversible ground-source heat geothermal reservoirs identified in Romania and
the use of energy content of the geothermal waters.
Today, the most complex and largest application in Not only deep geothermal is considered in this
progress and state of the art for Europe is ELI-NP article, a special interest is given to shallow
Extreme Light Infrastructure that is to be built in geothermal energy exploitation, which can be done
Bucharest-Magurele. ELI-NP is the first pan-European be means is ground source heat pumps. An
research facility built in Eastern Europe which overview of the legal framework and of the leading
oriented on high-level research on ultra-high intensity actors on the market is, also, presented.
laser. The heating and cooling system is in the range of 5,4 MW, obtained by a borehole heat exchanger Key words: geothermal, ground source heat pumps,
with 1080 boreholes at 120 m depth drilled in a field of around 27000 m². The total investment cost (app. 356 million €) is paid mainly from Romania’s 1. INTRODUCTION
The main Romanian geothermal resources are found 2. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND LEADING
in porous and permeable sandstones and siltstones (for example, in the Western Plain and the Olt Valley), or in fractured carbonate formations (Oradea, Bors, At present, the Romanian legislation is harmonized with European Union principles and supports The total capacity of the existing wells is about 480 MWt (for a reference temperature of 25°C). Of this total, only about 180 MWt are currently used, The Kyoto objectives implied for the European Union, from 80 wells (of which 35 wells are used only for between 2008 and 2012, a reduction by 8% of the balneology and bathing) that are producing hot water greenhouse gases emission compared to the 1990 level in the temperature range of 40÷115°C. For 2012, the (corresponding to about 600 million tons per year of annual energy utilization from these wells was about CO2 equivalent). The European Renewable Energy 360 GWh. More than 80% of the wells are artesian Roadmap adopted in 2007, which defines clear targets producers, 18 wells require anti-scaling chemical and goals to reach a 20% contribution of renewable treatment, and 6 are used for reinjection. The main energy to the energy mix by the year 2020, has also direct uses of the geothermal energy are: space and been adopted by Romania and included in the Energy Strategy for the 2007-2020 period. These targets are industrial process heat; fish farming and animal also mandatory for Romania, after joining the Last 5 years, six geothermal wells were drilled in The underground mineral resources (including Romania with National financing. Some of these geothermal) are owned by the State. The Romanian wells, drilled to depths ranging from 1,700 m to 2,500 Constitution, adopted in 1991, stipulates that m, have been successful, 3 of them producing “resources of any nature occurring in the underground, geothermal water with about 70°C wellhead [and] the water with useful energy content, etc., are temperature, and one of them, near Oradea, about exclusively public property.” Mineral rights are 1,700 m deep, with a wellhead temperature of about excluded from private ownership. Their exploration 90°C and an artesian flow rate of about 10 l/s right and exploitation is regulated by the Mining Law (No.
61/1998, old version, modified by Law no. 85/2003). The first shallow geothermal applications were Obtaining concession licenses (from the National implemented in Romania in the late 1990s. At the Agency for Mineral Resources, see below) for beginning, they were based on open system exploration and exploitation is regulated by the Concession Law No. 219/1998. JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 The Environment Protection Law (No. 137/1995 old
each year until 2020, and increase every year. As the version, modified by Law No. 265/2006), stipulates available green certificates are much below the that the activity of drilling wells for underground fluid demand, their selling price is the maximum one. At the end of the year, the money obtained from fines is authorization procedure. Only water wells for distributed to the green energy producers proportional domestic use (residential areas, family houses) with to the number of green certificates they sold, depths of less than 50 m are exempted from this providing an additional income on top of the one from procedure. Wells for (vertical loop) borehole heat exchangers are not specifically mentioned (this is still In the shallow geothermal domain the market outruns an unusual technical solution in Romania, most the national regulation framework for ground source ground source heat exchangers are horizontal, being heat pump applications. The Law No. 372/2005 on the
less expensive). The drilling process is still under the Energy Performance of Buildings that transposed
incidence of the Environmental Protection Law for the the EPBD into the national legislation is applicable storage and disposal of hazardous fluids (fuels, since January 1, 2007. It contains a mandatory request lubricants, drilling mud), as well as air and noise regarding the presence of heat pumps as an alternative in the feasibility study for new buildings larger than The Water Law (No. 107/1996, old version, modified
1.000 m2. In fact, this provision is not yet applicable, by Law No. 310/2004) regulates the use and because the responsible with awarding construction protection of Romania’s water resources. All waters - licenses, the local authorities, lack the knowledge and ground and underground - belong to the state. They the management structure for analyzing this kind of can be used free for drinking, washing, irrigation and other needs, even in small installations, but can not be The National Agency for Mineral Resources
sold. Otherwise, the right of using both ground and (NAMR), established in 1993, is the regulatory underground waters is subject of authorization. In authority to administer the mineral resources, as well order to stimulate the development of small and as the Competent Authority which coordinates the medium enterprises Law No. 346/2004 stipulates that mining operation under the Mining Law, according to for some small size works and activities (flow rates the provisions of the Concession Law. In particular, below 36 m3/h) a notification at the Competent the Agency is authorized to institute hydro-geological protection perimeters, for the underground waters The Thermal Energy Law No. 325/2006 sets the
(mineral and thermo-mineral), to negotiate the terms general rules for district heating systems, and is and conclude agreements for the exploration and intended to stimulate the use of renewable energy production of mineral resources and to select, finance, sources, among which geothermal is specifically and follow up on all geological exploration and mentioned. According to this law, all district heating exploitation works for geothermal resources. systems have to be public property, but the operation The Order No. 97/20.05.2008 of the President of can be licensed to a specialized private company or to NAMR on the technical instructions for classifying a public - private joint venture. The district heating and assessing the resources/reserves of natural mineral company purchases heat from any producer (public or water, therapeutic mineral water, geothermal water, private), transports, distributes and supplies it to gases that accompany them, and noncombustible gases defines all these mineral resources, and The Law for the Promotion of Energy Production
geothermal waters are defined as “renewable useful from Renewable Energy Sources No. 220/2008
mineral substance, represented by the totality of regulates all aspects regarding the “green certificates” underground water which have the role of transporting issued for electric energy produced from renewable the heat from the terrestrial crust, used for energy or as energy sources, geothermal included. For 1 MWh therapeutic mineral waters, with temperatures at the electric energy produced from geothermal energy the producer receives now 2 green certificates. One The National Agency for Environment Protection,
additional green certificate is awarded for co- established by the Governmental Decision no. generation systems. Unfortunately, the National 1625/23.12.2003, is the responsible authority under Agency for Energy Regulation does not award, yet, the Environment Protection Law. It has been intended any green certificates for geothermal power claiming to work so as to ensure a healthy environment, in line that there are too few producers and not enough with Romania's economical development and its social information to notify the European Commission. progress. Its mission consists in ensuring a better Some restrictive conditions apply, different for some environment for the present and future generations, renewable energy sources, mainly as minimum or through a continuous enhancement of air, soil and maximum installed capacity and first year of operation. The green certificates can be sold on the The National Administration “Romanian Waters” is
Green Certificates Exchange. The maximum price for the competent authority under the Water Law. Its one green certificate was, for 2012, 55 €. The competence goes to surface waters of the public producers of energy from fossil fuels have annual domain as regulated by the Law of Waters no. quotas of green certificates they have to acquire, 107/1996, with their minor beds, shorelines and lake function of their annual energy production, otherwise basins, as well as their natural resources and energy they have to pay a fine. These quotas are fixed for JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 potential, underground waters, sea-walls and beaches, The largest company installing ground source heat pumps is ASA Holding located in Bucharest. The University of Oradea is a state university development of the energy sector (electric and established under this name in 1990, based on thermal) is regulated, ruled, supervised and monitored different higher education institutions of which the by the National Agency for Energy Regulation
first started its activity in 1780. Some of its faculties (NAER), which was set up by an Emergency have geothermal related training and/or research Ordinance in October 1998, as an independent and among their activities, such as the Faculty of Energy autonomous public institution. For electric energy, Engineering and Industrial Management, the Faculty according to the current legislation, the National of Environment Protection, the Faculty of Electrical Power Transport Company (TRANSELECTRICA) Engineering and Information Technology, and the has to purchase the entire available power produced Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. The Department from renewable resources at the price established by of Energy Engineering currently offers B.Sc. training the NAER, based on the financial and economic in Engineering of renewable energy systems and assessment study. The competent authority for the Energy Efficiency Law was the National Agency for The Romanian Geoexchange Society is a non-profit Energy Conservation (NAEC) which was included in organization established in 2002, whose objectives are to promote the HVAC GSHP systems, to create a For thermal energy sold to a private commercial national regulatory frame, to educate the users and to customer, the unit selling price is usually fixed by direct them to RES, to represent the Romanian market direct negotiation between the two parties. In case the abroad and to present its achievements, to train the customer is a public utility (e.g. district heating), the Romanian specialists, to contribute at the European unit selling price has to be approved by the Local training and certification frame for the 22 specialties Council and also by the National Regulatory Agency involved in the domain of heating and cooling with geothermal heat pump (according IGSHPA) and to There are two main companies in Romania currently bring the Romanian technical and managerial exploiting geothermal resources, Transgex S.A. and Foradex S.A., which have the long term concession for practically all known geothermal reservoirs. Transgex S.A. was established in 1970, having as GEOTHERMAL
RESOURCES
main activities prospecting and geological exploration for mineral resources, by well drilling and mining works. Up to now, the company has drilled about 150 wells for geothermal water. Transgex S.A. Company manifestation of geothermal resources. From was privatized in 2000. At present, as basic activity, prehistory to the present, the human community Transgex S.A. is developing the use of geothermal continued to live near and develop a variety of energy for district heating in the towns of Oradea, geothermal areas: Oradea, Felix Spa, Herculane Spa, Beius, Salonta, Marghita, as well as in the villages Geoagiu, Calan, Caciulata, Mangalia (Cohut and Livada, Sacuieni, Tasnad, Sinicolau de Munte, Santion. Geothermal energy is delivered in towns to The first geothermal well in Romania was drilled in block of flats, administrative institutions and 1885 at Felix Spa, near Oradea. The well was 51 m economic agents, and in smaller communities to block deep, with a flow rate of 195 l/s and a temperature of of flats and administrative buildings, mainly in open 49°C. This first well is still in operation. It was followed by the wells drilled at Caciulata (in 1893 - Foradex S.A. is a large company privatized in 2008. 37°C), Oradea (in 1897 - 29°C) and Timisoara (in The main part of its activity is drilling (in Romania and abroad). It has a Geothermal Department, has The search for geothermal resources for energy exploration or exploitation licenses in the southern purposes began in the early 60’s, based on a detailed (North Bucharest, Olt Valley) and south-western part geological program for hydrocarbon resources (that of Romania, but not much information is available had extensive budgets). There are over 250 wells drilled with depths between 800 and 3,500 m, that Turism Felix S.A. is a tourist company, owning most show the presence of low enthalpy geothermal hotels in Felix Spa, near Oradea, as well as the geothermal wells and the exploitation license. The identification of many geothermal areas, most of them geothermal water is only used for health and in the Western part and 3 in the Southern part of A few other (smaller) companies have exploration or exploitation (considered as part of geological exploitation licenses for geothermal sources, the investigation) of over 100 wells in the past 30 years typical example being one low temperature well used made possible the evaluation of exploitable heat from geothermal reservoirs. More than 80% of the wells For shallow geothermal energy exploitation, by means are artesian producers, 18 of them require anti-scaling of ground source heat pumps, there are many treatment (Panu, 1995), and 6 are reinjection wells. companies that install this kind of heating systems. JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 The proven reserves, with the already drilled wells, The main geothermal areas are - from North to South - are estimated at about 200 PJ for the next 20 years. Satu Mare, Tasnad, Acas, Marghita, Sacuieni, Salonta, The total installed capacity of the existing wells is Curtici-Macea-Dorobanti, Nadlac, Lovrin, Tomnatic, about 480 MWt (for a reference temperature of 25°C). Sannicolau Mare, Jimbolia and Timisoara. The main Out of this, only about 180 MWt is currently used, uses are: heating of 10 hectares of greenhouses; from 96 wells that are producing hot water in district heating for about 2,500 flats, only sanitary hot water supply for 2,200 flats, health and recreational For 2010, the average flow rate was about 280 l/s, the bathing, and fish farming. Other applications, such as annual energy utilization for direct use was about 360 ceramics drying, timber drying; hemp and flax GWh, with an average capacity factor of about 22% processing, went broke and stopped operations (Rosca, Bendea 2010). About 40 wells are used for health and recreational bathing in 16 spas that have a The Oradea geothermal reservoir is located in the
treatment capacity of over 850,000 people per year. Triassic limestone(s?) and dolomites at depths of During the last 5 years, six geothermal wells have 2,200÷3,200 m, on an area of about 75 km2, and it is been drilled to depths ranging from 1,700 m to 2,500 exploited by 12 wells with a total flow rate of 140 l/s m, of which one was unsuccessful (dry and cold), and geothermal water with well head temperatures of three are producing geothermal water with wellhead 70÷105°C. There are no dissolved gases, the temperatures of between 70°C and 90°C. mineralization is 0.9÷1.2 g/l, the water being of The geothermal systems discovered on the Romanian calcium-sulphate-bicarbonate type. The Oradea territory are located in porous permeable formations Triassic aquifer is hydrodynamically connected to the such as Pannonian sandstone, interbedded with clays Felix Spa Cretaceous aquifer, and together are part of and shales specific for the Western Plain, and the active natural flow of water. The water is about Senonian specific for the Olt Valley. Some geothermal 20,000 years old and the recharge area is in the systems are located in carbonate formations of Northern edge of the Padurea Craiului Mountains and Triassic age in the basement of the Pannonian Basin, the Borod Basin. Although there is a significant and of Malm-Aptian age in the Moesian Platform recharge of the geothermal system, the exploitation with a total flow rate of over 300 l/s generates pressure draw down in the system that is prevented by reinjection. Reinjection is the result of successful MOLDAVIA
completion and beginning operation of the first CHIŞINĂU
doublet in the Nufarul district in Oradea city, in October 1992 (Lund, 1997). The Felix Spa reservoir is currently exploited by six wells, with depths between 50 and 450 m. The total flow rate available from these wells is 210 l/s. The geothermal water has wellhead temperature of 36÷48°C and is potable. The annual utilization of geothermal energy in Oradea is BUCHAREST
representing almost 35% of the total geothermal heat BULGARIA
produced in Romania.
The Bors geothermal reservoir is situated about 6 km
north-west of Oradea. This reservoir is completely Fig 1. Location of the main Romanian geothermal
different from the Oradea reservoir, although both are reservoirs
located in fissured carbonate formations. The Bors reservoir is a tectonically closed aquifer, with a small The Pannonian geothermal aquifer is multilayered,
surface area of 12 km2. The geothermal water has 13 confined and is located in the sandstones at the g/l TDS, 5 Nm3/m3 GWR, and a high scaling basement of the Upper Pannonian (late Neocene age), potential, prevented by chemical inhibition. The on an approximate area of 2,500 km2 along the Western border of Romania, from Satu Mare in the North, to Timisoara and Jimbolia in the South. The reservoir temperature is higher than 130°C at the aquifer is situated at the depth of 800 to 2,400 m. It average depth of 2,500 m. The artesian production of was investigated by more than 100 geothermal wells, the wells could only be maintained by reinjecting the all possible producers, out of which 37 are currently whole amount of extracted geothermal water, and of colder water from shallower wells during the summer. exploited. The thermal gradient is 45÷55°C/km. The In the past, three wells were used to produce a total wellhead temperatures range between 50 and 85°C. flow rate of 50 l/s, and two other wells were used for The mineralization (TDS) of the geothermal waters is reinjection, at a pressure that did not exceed 6 bar. 4÷5 g/l (sodium-bicarbonate-chloride type) and most The geothermal water was used for heating 12 ha of of the waters show carbonate scaling, prevented by greenhouses (now bankrupt, stopped operation). The down-hole chemical inhibition. The combustible dissolved gasses were partially separated at 7 bar, gases, mainly methane, are separated from the which is the operating pressure, and then the fluid is geothermal water and rarely used. The wells are passed through heat exchangers before being produced mainly artesian and very few of them with reinjected. The installed power is about 8 MWt, and JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 the annual energy savings was about 3,000 toe. This high H2S content (up to 30 ppm). Therefore, reservoir is currently not exploited at all. The Beius geothermal reservoir is situated about 60 protection. The production was carried out in the km south-east of Oradea. The reservoir is located in Otopeni area using downhole pumps, because the fissured Triassic calcite and dolomite 1,870 – 2,370 m water level in the wells is at 80 m below surface. The deep. The first well has been drilled in 1996, down to total flow rate was 22÷28 l/s. At present, only one 2,576 m. A line shaft pump was set inside the well in well is in use, almost all year round, for health and 1999, now producing up to 45 l/s geothermal water with 83°C wellhead temperature. A second well has The Romanian strategic documents - National been drilled in early 2004, and a line shaft pump was Strategy of Energy, RES Strategy and NREAP - do being installed later that year and can also produce up not specifically take into consideration the shallow to 45 l/s geothermal water with 85°C wellhead geothermal energy and its potential. Currently, the temperature. The geothermal water from these wells figures that quantify the geothermal energy in all has a low mineralization (462 mg/l TDS), and 22.13 these documents refer to deep geothermal energy only. mg/l NCG, mainly CO2 and 0.01 mg/l of H2S. The The geothermal maps present the location of deep geothermal water from both wells is currently used to geothermal reservoirs, without any concern about the supply district heating to part of the town of Beius (for shallow geothermal energy which is considered to be a district heating system with 10 substations supplying a block of flats area, two hospitals, two schools, public buildings, for heating system of many individual www.geotrainet.eu ) include a map of Europe in houses in open loop, swimming pool, etc.). which the underground temperatures at more than The Ciumeghiu geothermal reservoir is also located
12÷15 m in Romania in the present times are between in the Western Plain, 50 km South to Oradea. The 12÷16°C. These values were stated by the GSHP geothermal water has a wellhead temperature of specialists that monitored the temperatures acquired in 105°C and high mineralization (5-6 g/l TDS), with the implemented applications and test drills. strong carbonate scaling potential (prevented by chemical inhibition at the depth of 400 m). The aquifer is located in Lower Pannonian age gritstone, at UTILIZATION
GEOTHERMAL
an average depth of 2,200 m. The main dissolved gas is CH4, the GWR being 3 Nm3/m3. The reservoir was investigated by 4 wells, but only one was in use (until Due to economic difficulties, only a few new the greenhouses in the area have been closed), with a geothermal projects were completed during 2007- 2012. By far, the most interesting project is a binary 5 MWt (of which 1 MWt from the separated cycle ORC geothermal power plant. In spite of its combustible gasses). The geothermal water was used small installed capacity (0.05 MWe) it represents the for heating greenhouses (bankrupt, stopped operation). first step in this direction (of producing electricity The Cozia-Calimanesti geothermal reservoir (Olt
from geothermal water) after many years. It has been Valley) produces artesian geothermal water, with flow commissioned in November 2012 and it is assumed to rates between 8.5 and 22 l/s, and shut-in wellhead produce 0.4 GWe each year. It represents a small pressures of 30÷33 bar, from fissured siltstones of amount of the total electricity production in Romania Senonian age. The reservoir depth is 2,700÷3,250 m, (0.000645%), but is still a beginning. By 2015, total the well head temperature is 70÷95°C, the TDS is 15.7 projected capacity for geothermal power plants will be g/l, and there is no major scaling (only minor about 1.2 MWe, having 10 GWhe electricity deposition and some corrosion were observed during years of operation). The GWR is 1÷2.0 Nm3/m3 (90% Other new projects are a district heating in open loops, methane). Although the reservoir was exploited for and one geothermal project for bathing and more than 25 years, there is no interference between swimming. Also, some existing district heating the wells and no significant pressure draw down. The systems were developed. Many of the geothermal thermal potential possible to be achieved from the 4 operations completed before 2007 continued to wells is about 14 MWt (of which 3.5 MWt from the operate, with some exceptions where the users went combustible gases – if used), but only about 7 MWt is used at present. The energy equivalent gained in this way is 3,500 toe/year. The geothermal water is All operations from reservoirs with 0 l/s production mainly used for district heating (2,250 equivalent have been closed during the last 5 years. These were flats), and for health and recreational bathing. expected to resume operation in the short or medium The Otopeni geothermal reservoir is located North to
term future, or to start new operations, but it did not Bucharest. It is only partially delimited (about 300 km2). The 23 drilled wells (of which only 17 potential The main direct uses of geothermal heat are (Table 1): producers or injectors) show a huge aquifer located in district heating and individual space heating, and fissured limestone and dolomites, situated at a depth health and recreational bathing. In a few places of 2,000÷3,200 m, belonging to the Moesian Platform. geothermal energy is also used for greenhouse heating The geothermal water has wellhead temperatures of (about 10 ha), fish farming (a few farms), industrial 58÷84°C, and a rather high TDS (1.5÷2.2 g/l), with a processes, and drying. Detailed data on installed JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 capacity and annual energy used is not available by used only for bathing (e.g. Acas-Beltiug and Tasnad), type of utilization. In areas where the available or for fish farming (e.g. Santandrei). In other areas, wellhead temperature is rather low, geothermal water with higher temperatures and in larger communities, is only used for health and recreational bathing (e.g. geothermal water is first used for district heating Felix spa), or for fish farming, depending on the (Table 2), some industrial processes, and only a part chemical composition. In other areas, even if the of the heat depleted water is used for bathing (or for temperature is higher, the geothermal water is still fish farming), the rest being reinjected.
Table 1. Present and planned geothermal district heating plants and other direct uses

Table 2. Existing geothermal district heating plants, individual sites
Plant Name commiss. thermal from geo- capacity capacity heat prod. total prod. JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 The market for ground source heat pumps GSHP exploration well, in an area not yet explored in the practically opened in Romania only in the late 1990' southern part of Romania, and was rather and is now developing quite well. Because nowadays unsuccessful, having too low flow rate and too low there are no technical norms for GSHP applications, it wellhead temperatures for energy uses. Five wells is still impossible to obtain data from all companies were drilled by Transgex in the western part of installing such systems. They are systematically Romania, in areas where geothermal resources have avoiding openly present their applications as already been identified (Diosig, Tasnad, Beius, and references. On the other hand, there are not central or local authorities, Governmental institutions or There are no public utilities actually operating Agencies, specially appointed to keep the evidence geothermal systems. Geothermal district heating (traceability), to certify, to authorize and to monitor systems are operated only by one of the two the performance of the applications, and this is another companies mentioned before (Transgex). In all cases though, the distribution network is public property, At the beginning, in the first 7-8 years after 1990, the according to the Romanian legislation. For this favored solutions in GSHP applications were ground reason, the public utilities that have part or all their water wells and, rarely, horizontal ground heat heat supplied form geothermal resources (e.g. the exchangers. These technologies were suitable for town of Beius) have at least one person in charge of small applications and for specific geographic and supervising the geothermal part of the system. climatic areas in the country. In the last years, the The only Governmental project involving shallow larger applications required larger water flows that are geothermal energy was initiated in 2006 by a not accessible in all potential locations. This is why Government decision and was targeted to 10 rural the borehole heat exchangers became more and more schools. The chosen solution was “open loop common especially for commercial buildings. Table 3 technology” (in order to use the existing water supply presents the total length of largest GSHP systems built well and to drill only the reinjection well), but the “standard” project was not suitable for all the 10 locations. For this reason, nowadays only 5 from 10 of Table 3. Large GSHP systems with borehole heat
applications are still functional. None of these are exchangers (BHE) longer than 10000 m
monitored for metering the performance and quantity City, Name
No. of Depth
of renewable energy extracted. All these applications were for heating-only purposes (in summer time, the schools are not open for recreational activities especially in rural areas). The total allocated amount was under 1 million Euro, equally shared between the 10 projects, and it included the cost of indoor Based on the little available information, the heating capacity of the ground source heat pumps installed in Romania by the end of 2012 is estimated at about 20 MWt (Table 4). Table 4. Shallow geothermal energy, ground source
heat pumps (GSHP)
A lot of foreign investors or dealers of products manufactured abroad “imported” in Romania the GSHP technology from the manufacturers' country (Germany, Austria etc.). Nowadays the total price for drilling, “U” pipe mounting and cementing the geothermal heat exchanger is in the range 15-35 Euro/m and depends of the depth, the diameter, the number of drillings, the soil type and drilling technology, the accessibility in the site etc. The drilling for both open and closed systems is not The number of employees with a university degree of specifically regulated by the authorities but is Transgex S.A. increased slowly after 2000, when the considered as any regular water supply drilling. For company was privatized, as geothermal is currently its closed-loop systems the current drilling depth is 70 ÷ main business. In the last five years the company also paid foreign experts for consulting, whenever needed. Deep geothermal energy is extracted by means of Foradex S.A. was a large state owned company geothermal water. Out of the six wells drilled in the privatized in September 2007. The main part of its last 5 years, one was drilled by Foradex, as JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VOL. 4, NO. 4, DECEMBER, 2013 activity is drilling for oil, gas, geothermal and REFERENCES
industrial water (in Romania and abroad). Being acquired by a real estate investment company, it is [1] Antics M. A.: Computer Simulation of the Oradea currently being reorganized and geothermal does not Geothermal Reservoir, Proceedings of the 22nd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, During 2007-2012, the investment and employment in [2] Bendea, C., Rosca M.: Industrial uses of geothermal geothermal projects totaled about 10 million EUR, energy in Romania. GRC Transaction, Reno, NE, less than in any 5 years interval before, but still mainly from the State Budget, for drilling (geological [3] Cohut I., Arpasi M.: Ancient uses of geothermal exploration and research). Out of the total energy in the Precarpathian area and in the Pannonian investments in geothermal projects, the cost of drilling Basin. Proceedings, WGC95 Florence, Italy, (1995), the six wells represents almost 80%. Even the wells drilled in known reservoirs have been funded from the [4] Cohut, I. and Ungemach, P.: Integration of State Budget, as research needed to confirm the Geothermal District Heating into a Large City resource. Successful wells can be leased from the Cogeneration Grid. The International Workshop on Strategy of Geothermal Development in Agriculture in NAMR, usually by the company that drilled them. In Europe at the end of the XXth Century, Cesme, this way, the State practically completely covers the geological risk of drilling the wells, and also [5] GEOFLUID Inc.: Energy strategy of the Oradea City. contributes significantly to the capital cost of new projects or of development of existing ones. [6] Lund J.: District heating systems in Oradea, Romania. The production equipment for some wells (line shaft GeoHeat Center Quarterly Bulletin. Vol. 18, No. 3, pumps, variable speed drives, automation, etc) has been financed from other funds the Transgex [7] Panu D.: Geothermal resources in Romania. Results Company could raise (own equity, bank loans, grants and Prospects, Proceedings, WGC95, Florence, Italy, (1995), 301-308. from the European Commission and National Funds, [8] Polizu R., Hanganu-Cucu R. - A case study of good carbon credits, etc). During 2007-2012, Transgex practice in ground source heating / cooling: auto showroom, offices and workshop VW Bucharest – installed the first power generation unit that produces electricity from geothermal water in designers of shallow geothermal systems, (2011), 133-137, GEOTRAINET Project - Geo-education for built district heating systems in the small a sustainable geothermal heating and cooling market [9] Rosca, M.: Technical and Economical Assessments of extended the district heating systems in the Selected Geothermal Scenarios for Oradea Romania. United Nations University, Geothermal Training extended the district heating system in the Programme, Report 13, Reykjavik, Iceland, (1993). [10] Rosca, M., Karytsas, K., Mendrinos, D.: Low Enthalpy Geothermal Power Generation in Romania, Proceedings, WGC 2010, Bali, Indonesia (2010). [11] Rosca, M., Antal, C., Bendea, C.: Geothermal Energy in Romania: Country Update 2005-2009, Proceedings, Transgex plans to extend its electricity production up to 1.2 MWe and also, in the near future, to develop some existing district heating systems (Sacuieni, Acknowledgements
Tasnad, Livada, etc), and mainly to increase the The authors acknowledge the important contribution to this production from the Oradea reservoir to its maximum paper of Ionel Mutiu of Transgex and Miron Sferle of capacity. For this last plan, at the time of this writing, Foradex, who provided or confirmed part of the information Transgex, together with the Municipality of Oradea, is presented here. The highest gratitude is also owed to Prof. developing a geothermal district heating project in Robert Gavriliuc and Dr. Radu Polizu, the leaders of Nufarul neighbourhood of heat pump assisted type. Romanian Geoexchange Society who cooperated with their

Source: http://www.energy-cie.ro/archives/2013/nr_4/v4-n4-2.pdf