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Velky Meder

Geothermal project in Velky Meder

Town of Velky Meder with population of almost 9000 is situated in south part of Slovakia and well known mainly because of thermal spa operated since late 70´s. Two geothermal wells are used for the needs of the spa. Thanks to positive long lasting operational experiences with geothermal system, favorable geological and hydrothermal conditions and presence of district heating systems, it was decided to implement geothermal district heating project in late 2015.

Two existing district heating systems were originally operated in the town, each with single central boiler plant. Boiler plant supplied both heat and hot tap water to the dwellings Stred I and II. Boiler plants were obsolete and required reconstruction urgently.

Within the geothermal project implementation, existing two district heating systems were united and the heat source was centralized in the facility of original boiler plant Stred I. Also new object in the charge of the municipality were connected to the grid. Centralization of the heat source was required also due to geothermal energy utilization.

New geothermal well VM-1 was drilled in order to provide geothermal water for district heating purposes. Total depth of the well is 2 450 m, flow rate at the free flow is 10 l/s at temperature of 92°C. Geothermal heat exchanger station was build in the central heat source with two plate heat exchangers with thermal output of 2 x 1 549 kW. Thermally utilized geothermal water is transported to the facilities of thermal spa where the second stage of utilization takes place.

On the route of the pipeline, small heat exchanger station for the purposes of health center is installed. Thus, geothermal water is being utilized in cascade system with two stages which leads to achieving optimal rate of geothermal energy utilization. After delivering thermal energy, geothermal water is drained together with discharged water from the pools to the channel nearby.

Geothermal energy, as one of the cleanest and most stable renewable energy resources, can be used for producing of 84 % of total heat energy produced in the central heat source annually. Up to 1 mil. m3 of natural gas is saved each year, which leads to the reduction of CO2 emissions by almost 2 tons. Geothermal district heating project in Velky Meder is the fourth project of it´s kind in Slovakia and fully confirms that geothermal energy represents economically advantageous, sustainable and reliable domestic renewable energy resource.