In September 2023, the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute (PGI-NRI) together with the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) launched a project called Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition (OptiSGE), financed by the Fund for Bilateral Relations, European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021.

The OptiSGE project aims at the enhancement of green transition by the implementation of innovative methods in the evaluation and use of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) resources in support of the economy and society in Poland and Norway. The project leader at the PGI-NRI is Maciej R. Kłonowski, while at NORCE is Kirsti Midttømme. The OptiSGE project will be completed in August 2024.

Employees of the PGI-NRI and NORCE during the study visit to Poland at the premises of the PGI-NRI Lower Silesian Branch in Wrocław

A study visit to Poland under the terms of the OptiSGE project was organized on 21–24.11.2023. This was a part of the implementation of Activity 2: Exchange of knowledge and experience. The visit was combined with a training course on the practical application of the Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) method in hydrogeological boreholes, which is a part of Activity 4: Pilot research: DTS field measurements and reference data collection.

On the first day of the visit, an exchange of knowledge and experience between two partner institutions, including a scientific session, took place at the premises of the PGI-NRI Lower Silesian Branch in Wrocław. Kirsti Midttømme from NORCE presented a lecture entitled Developments of geothermal energy and ground source heat pumps applications in Norway. The presentation referred to the geothermal potential of Norway and the use of low-temperature geothermal energy through ground source heat pump systems in the context of geological settings.

The presentation given by Kirsti Midttømme (NORCE)

This was followed by presentations showing the activities of the PGI-NRI related to geothermal energy:

• Geology, hydrogeology and geothermal conditions of Lower Silesia – P. Żuk, A. Krzonkalla and M.R. Kłonowski,
• Low-temperature geothermal energy and ground source heat pumps in Poland – completed and ongoing projects at PGI-NRI – G. Ryżyński, M. Szlasa and M. Żeruń,
• Towards geothermal evaluation of SW Poland – comprehensive integration of petrophysical measurements and geophysical data – P. Słomski, Ł. Jasiński, B. Grochmal, K. Bulcewicz, A. Oniszczuk, M. Olkowicz and M. Dąbrowski.

The presentation given by Paweł Żuk and Maciej R. Kłonowski (PGI-NRI)

The presentation given by Grzegorz Ryżyński (PGI-NRI)

The presentation given by Piotr Słomski (PGI-NRI)

In the afternoon, a theoretical part of the training course on the use of the DTS method and its applications to geothermal measurements was held. The training was led by Peter Thomas from NORCE.

After the scientific session, the participants visited an exhibition of the Carboniferous flora specimens from the Lower Silesian Coal Basin, collected in the first half of the 20th century by Georg Franz Zimmermann and presently displayed in the premises of the PGI-NRI Lower Silesian Branch. The first day of the study visit was concluded with a visit to the Petrophysics Laboratory and a presentation of its activities and equipment.

Theoretical part of the training on DTS measurements led by Peter Thomas (NORCE)

A field trip took place on the second and third day of the study visit. In Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój the visit was guided by Mrs. Anna Leśniak, a mining manager of Uzdrowisko Cieplice (the Cieplice Health Resort). The OptiSGE team visited the C-1 borehole, one of the deepest boreholes of the geothermal medicinal waters in Poland, with a total depth of 2,002.5 m b.g.l. The borehole abstracts water under artesian pressure from a fractured crystalline aquifer showing at the outflow an average temperature of about 80°C.

The OptiSGE team and Mrs. Anna Leśniak at the hydrothermal installations of the C-1 borehole

The geothermal water is used for healing treatments and heating in Uzdrowisko Cieplice (the Cieplice Health Resort). The water from the C-1 borehole is also used by the Termy Cieplice (the Cieplice Baths) for heating the selected swimming pools as well as for space heating and hot domestic water production. Under certain conditions, the geothermal water might be mixed with municipal water and as such used to fill in one of the swimming pools.

The OptiSGE team and the profile of the C-1borehole in the Cieplice Baths building

In the afternoon, participants in the field trip became familiar with a model of the geological cross-section through the central and western Sudetes, located in the City Park on the Kościuszko Hill in Jelenia Góra.

In the afternoon the participants of the field trip visited a historic wooden church, the so-called stavkirke, located in Karpacz and built at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries in Vang in south-central Norway. In 1841, the church was moved to Berlin and thereafter to its present location, where since 1844 it has served as an Evangelical-Augsburg temple. At the end of the day, the project team stopped over in Jelenia Góra to visit a model of the geological cross-section through the middle and western Sudetes.

On the following day, the OptiSGE team visited the low-temperature geothermal installation at the Henryków Abbey. The place is well known for its Book of Henryków, written in the 13th century in Latin, which includes the first sentence written in the Ancient Polish language. A low-temperature geothermal installation, equipped with innovative technological solutions, is used for space heating and hot domestic water production at the historic abbey building complex. The construction and operation of the installation were explained by Mr. Dawid Golec, representative of DiMEN Sp. z.o.o., i.e. the designer and general contractor of the district heating installation and Mr. Jarosław Ozimek, President of the Management Board of DPS Sp. z.o.o., i.e. the drilling contractor.

Presentation of the modernisation of the heating system in the Henryków Abbey made by the DiMEN Ltd. and DPS Ltd. Companies

The final part of the study visit was the practical part of the training course on the application of the DTS techniques. This was conducted by Peter Thomas from NORCE and carried out in Park Skowroni in Wrocław. The groundwater temperature measurements were taken in the piezometer W-1.

Practical training of the DTS method application conducted by Peter Thomas (NORCE)

The study visit as a part of the Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition (OptiSGE) project successfully enabled the exchange of knowledge, experience and research practices in the field of geothermal energy, and opened up further opportunities for cooperation between the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute and NORCE Norwegian Research Centre.

During the visit, the PGI-NRI was represented by the employees of the Lower Silesian Branch in Wrocław: Paweł Brytan, Jolanta Duczmańska-Kłonowska, Łukasz Jasiński, Maciej Kłonowski, Anna Krzonkalla, Agnieszka Ładocha, Adrianna Maćko, Agnieszka Oniszczuk, Weronika Pratkowiecka, Wiktoria Sergiel, Piotr Słomski, Urszula Wyrwalska, Karol Zawistowski and Paweł Żuk, as well as the employees of the Engineering Geology Department in Warsaw, i.e. Grzegorz Ryżyński and Marta Szlasa. NORCE was represented by Kirsti Midttømme, Anders Nermoen and Peter Thomas.

The Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition (OptiSGE) project is financed by the Fund for Bilateral Relations, European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021.

Text: Wiktoria Sergiel, Weronika Pratkowiecka, Maciej R. Kłonowski