The exchange of knowledge and experience among the project partners, scientists and stakeholders in beneficiary countries is an essential aspect since the very beginning of the User4GeoEnergy project. In order to implement this idea, capacity building events involving joint stakeholders consultations were organized in three beneficiary countries, starting in Poland.
Workshops for stakeholders were held on December 8th 2022, in Kraków. The target group for this event was the scientific community, doctoral students, operators of district heating systems, employees of local government units, as well as enterprises and companies from the energy sector – in particularly geothermal and district heating. In total, 29 people attended the meeting. The workshops aimed at presenting results of activities carried out in the project, as well as plans and tasks that are still ahead of the consortium.
During the first session, prof. Leszek Pająk, presented the project’s background and goals. A special attention was paid to the efficient use of geothermal energy and the importance of well-matched cooperation between the geothermal source and the heating network. Particular attention was paid to the impact of technical requirements set by the recipient on the efficiency of geothermal energy use. Effective and economical energy management is essential nowadays when energy security and prices are subjected to unfavourable political and market trends. Then, experiences of project partners with geothermal development were shared among the audience.
In the second session, preliminary project results were presented for each work package. A pinnacle of this session was a presentation done by prof. Leszek Pająk, showing how heat final users can influence its effective management and lower energy bills.
After this part, User4GeoEnergy experts discussed with the participants the role of geothermal energy as a reliable component of the district heating source and the importance of the requirements set by the recipient on the final price of heat. Based on the initial results of the project, it was demonstrated through various scenarios, supported by calculations and numerous graphs, that there is a need to promote actions aimed at correcting the energy characteristic of users. Different ways for financing necessary solutions were part of the discussion. Attention was also drawn to specific legal barriers that should be overcome in order to stimulate the development of geothermal district heating in Poland.
The last session was devoted to the progress of the currently ongoing projects related to the geothermal energy utilization in Poland. Presented projects:
- Capacity building of the key stakeholders in the area of geothermal energy (KeyGeothermal) www.keygeothermal.pl
- CO2-Enhanced Geothermal Systems for Climate Neutral Energy Supply (EnerGizerS Project) http://energizers.agh.edu.pl
- Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Geothermal water for agriculture project (Geo4Food) http://www.geo4food.com/
The Capacity building event for members of the project’s consortium was organized 7th December as a technical study visit to selected geothermal installations located in the Podhale region (Southern Poland).
First, members visited the geothermal facilities of MEERI PAS located in Bańska Niżna, being the 1st geothermal laboratory and pioneer of geothermal district heating in Poland.
Second visited place was PEC Geotermia Podhalańska S.A. – the largest supplier of geothermal heat in Poland.
The final item on the agenda was a visit to the Chochołowskie Thermal Baths – the largest thermal baths in southern Poland located in Witów (Podhale region).
Presentations from companies presented during the visit can be found here.
The Project “Improving the energy efficiency of geothermal energy utilisation by adjusting the user characteristics“ is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation, grant number 2018-1-0502.
More information about the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation: https://www.eeagrants.org/
More information on the Project: http://user4geoenergy.net/
pajak@meeri.pl Project manager)
User4GeoEnergy Project
