Geothermal district heating comes online in Hungary

Hungary’s first geothermal district heating plant is now online after an opening ceremony last week.

The $34m, 52 MWth plant at Gyor in the northeast of the country is operated by project developer PannErgy. The site includes two production wells, two reinjection wells, a heat distribution centre and a 17 km heat transfer network.

The project was funded in part by a $21m loan from the Hungarian Export-Import Bank.

Around 60% of the plant’s heat will be supplied to an Audi automobile factory in Gyor for use on-site, with the remainder going to around 2500 households and 1000 industrial customers.

The plant is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 67,000 tonnes per year, and to reduce the use of natural gas by 35 million tonnes.

Source: COSPP