February the 22nd, 2024 – Karlovac geothermal plans might be ambitious, but if they succeed, they’ll be the only Croatian city to use renewable energy sources for its central heating system.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the commendable Karlovac geothermal project is gaining traction as preparatory work on the well of those geothermal sources begins. Should Karlovac succeed, it will be the first city in all of Croatia, and perhaps even the wider region, to power its central heating system with hot water. For this, in addition to the work on the well itself, work on the replacement of all of the hot water pipes has already been done. It is assumed that at a depth of two and a half kilometres, there is a source of water with a natural temperature of 126 degrees Celsius.
The Šumbar Forest is one of the potential hot water sites in the wider Karlovac area, and it’s precisely at this location that work is beginning on the preparation of the ground for the exploratory well, as reported by HRT.
“An exploratory well has been planned at this location, after years of measurements being taken, research being carried out, and data collection being processed. We can say with confidence that this particular location has already been determined. The depth will be at a depth of a little more than two and a half kilometres,” revealed Vlatko Kovačić, the director of GeotermiKA.
Previous research has shown that the water temperature underground here could be as naturally high as 126 degrees Celsius. The current Karlovac geothermal plan is to use this water to provide heating from the city’s heating plant.
“Through the hot water network revitalisation project we’ve carried out so far, the city heating plant has made plans to introduce renewable sources into the central heating system of the City of Karlovac,” explained the director of the Karlovac Heating Plant, Zdravko Eremić, adding that the spatial plan already foresees the route of the geothermal water supply to Karlovac itself.
“When we manage to bring that geothermal water to our heating plant, we’ll be the only city in Croatia, and as far as I know in the immediate region, where the central heating system uses renewable energy sources,” stated Karlovac Mayor Damir Mandić.
So far, the money has been secured only up to this stage, that is, we’ve got enough to do what we need to do regarding the well area. For the rest of the work – they still need to find a source of financing. Karlovac is optimistic about the entire project, which is just a continuation of the city’s green transition. It’s worth noting that fourteen city buildings already have solar power plants on their roofs, and the replacement of the entire city’s public lighting with led technology will soon begin.
