Economical and technical assessment of some geothermal development scenarios for Oradea, Romania

Abstract

This report constitutes the final phase in the author's training at the United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme in Reykjavik, Iceland. The main purpose of the report is to study the technical and economical viability of selected geothermal development scenarios in the Oradea area. It contains a brief description of the geothermal resources and their current utilization in Romania and a detailed description of the current utilization of geothermal energy in the Oradea area. Technical and economical pre-feasibility studies for a heat pump assisted geothermal heating system for an average hotel in Felix Spa resort and four different geothermal district heating systems for Oradea City constitute the main part of the report. Problems regarding the geothermal reservoir management, chemistry of the geothermal fluids and environmental pollution are also presented here. The findings of this study show conclusively that further development of geothermal energy utilization in the Oradea area is not only economic, but also has considerable environmental benefits. The CO2 emission is only 0.15 to 0.3% of the amount of flue gas emission from a coal fired co-generation power plant ...