The world’s deepest, the seven-kilometre geothermal borehole will be drilled in Szaflary in the Podhale region. A contract has been signed with its contractor, the company UOS Drilling S.A. The cost of the investment, financed by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, is almost PLN 132 million.

“It will be a research and exploitation borehole. This is a historic moment with a lot of expectations. We want our region to develop much more effectively. The warm water source will serve the needs of the inhabitants, i.e. it will be used to heat homes, but also to produce electricity, for recreation, for health purposes to grow vegetables and fruit because the water will also be able to heat the ground in greenhouses”, says Rafał Szkaradziński, the Szaflary commune mayor.

The drilling tower will be assembled in the fourth quarter of this year, and the drilling itself is expected to begin early next year The diameter of the borehole will vary and will start at 13 inches and narrow telescopically, according to the depth. Liquid will be pumped to extract the rock mass, simultaneously cooling the drill.

Three options for exploiting the new geothermal source are assumed. The first is to draw hot water from a target depth of 7 km, where the water temperature reaches 180 degrees Celsius. If it turns out that there is not enough hot water at this depth, the second variant will be used, which is drawing water from a depth of 5 km. The third option is to draw water from a depth of 3.6 km. Decisions will be made during the drilling and geological investigation.

“We are in such an area and live in such times that we have to learn to use our natural resources, which are plentiful, but we just need to reach for them to become energy independent from all other external sources”, stressed Szkaradziński.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński