Carbon dioxide emissions from Szeged's district heating system reduced by nearly 20,000 tonnes

– said the technical manager.

The expert explained that, following fine-tuning of the system, half of the natural gas previously used will be replaced by renewable sources in two to three years, according to plans. Over the past eight years, Szegedi Távfűtő Kft. has spent approximately 5-6 billion forints from its own resources on modernising its heating plants in order to be able to efficiently utilise geothermal energy in the system.

Further developments to follow

Gábor Bozsó emphasised that by insulating prefabricated buildings and installing heat pump systems – which would require the cooperation of residents – 80-90 per cent of previous gas consumption could be replaced by renewable energy.

Tamás Ézsiás, project manager of investor Geo Hőterm Kft., announced that during the project, which was implemented with 60% EU funding and had a budget of HUF 1.735 billion,

A production well with a depth of 2,000 metres was drilled, from which thermal water with an average volume of 80 cubic metres per hour and a temperature of 93-94 degrees Celsius is extracted from a depth of between 1,675 and 1,950 metres. The thermal water is transported via insulated district heating pipes to the Rókusi heating plant, which serves 5,000 homes and 37 institutions, where the energy is transferred in several stages via plate heat exchangers, and then the cooled water is transferred to two 1,800-metre reinjection wells that were deepened during the project.

As part of a project supported by the Swiss Fund, the company has launched a new development to install gas separator equipment at the production wells of nine geothermal systems in order to separate methane dissolved in thermal water. According to preliminary calculations, the development, which is scheduled for completion in April 2027, will yield nearly 1.8 million cubic metres of natural gas per year, the expert said.