What will happen inside the Earth when shallow and deep boreholes are drilled? How will excess heat be stored underground? What technologies will be used? Will this solution be economically viable at all? These and many other questions were raised in Litoměřice by participants in three discussion meetings. The meetings were held from Friday 23 January to Tuesday 27 January with the aim of exploring public views, levels of awareness and interest in new technologies that use bedrock formations to store thermal energy. At the end of the discussion, these questions were also addressed by Vít Peřestý of the Czech Geological Survey, a member of the research team who oversees geological work in Litoměřice.
In total, almost fifty representatives of both the general public and the professional community voluntarily took part in the debate across three groups. “Our aim was to understand how local people perceive new approaches to storing heat underground, as well as the technologies and procedures used. At the same time, we wanted to acquaint engaged members of the Litoměřice public with the current status of the geothermal project and answer their questions,” said Antonín Tym, manager of the RINGEN research centre in Litoměřice at the Faculty of Science, Charles University.
People from a variety of professions, with a wide range of experience and across different age groups, were invited—both those who had already attended events connected with the SYNERGYS geothermal project (systems for energy synergy) and the PUSH-IT project (an acronym for “Piloting Underground Storage of Heat in Geothermal Reservoirs”), as well as those with no prior experience of energy projects or their promotion.
The survey is being conducted in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, and at three sites in Germany. It forms part of the PUSH-IT project funded under the Horizon Europe programme. “Its aim is to demonstrate the full-scale use of heat storage in geothermal reservoirs using three different technologies at six different locations across Europe,” added Merryn Thomas from the University of Exeter, who is coordinating this work together with Madeleine Kechagia from Anglia Ruskin University.
The survey is strictly anonymised and will serve as a basis for scientific articles and studies. “It is also expected to provide important insights for setting permitting procedures and operating conditions for potential investors, as these are innovative technologies and, unlike in countries such as the Netherlands or Sweden, there is as yet no experience with them in the Czech Republic,” Antonín Tym added.
