Wrzesnia starts its test well
The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is supporting 41 municipalities across Poland in the search for geothermal water. According to the Fund, the total grant amount for research work nationwide comes to 573 million zloty, and five such projects are under way in Greater Poland.
One of them is the work in Wrzesnia. The grant for the municipality is 10.27 million zloty, while the value of the whole project is given as 10.37 million zloty net.
The Wrzesnia GT-1 well
The project involves drilling the test well Wrzesnia GT-1 to a depth of about 1,460 metres. Estimates suggest the water may reach a temperature of around 53-54 degrees Celsius. Should the tests confirm suitable parameters and yield, the thermal water could be used in the local district heating system.
Drilling is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026 and to finish in February 2027. The test well was symbolically launched during a press conference attended by climate and environment minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska, National Fund board deputy president Robert Gajda and Wrzesnia mayor Tomasz Kaluzny.
According to the Fund, the programme's record so far offers grounds for cautious optimism. Thirteen agreements have been completed, under which geothermal conditions were investigated: 11 wells proved positive and 2 negative.
What happens with the financing
The programme "Udostepnianie wod termalnych w Polsce" (Making Poland's thermal waters available), running from 2020 to 2028, is meant to reduce the financial risk municipalities face with their first drillings. As the Fund notes, whether a heating plant is built can be settled only once a test well confirms sufficient water yield.
The National Fund announces further instruments. One is the Heating Sector Transformation Fund, covering financing for the construction, expansion and modernisation of geothermal heating plants and for drilling and reconstruction of geothermal wells. Separately, Norwegian funds are to support a programme called "Green Transformation - Geothermal Energy" under the EEA Financial Mechanism for 2021-2028.
"We are moving from the wording of the contract to action. It is time to begin the research work that will make it possible to assess the area and determine the extent to which geothermal waters in Wrzesnia can supply local district heating" - minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska said at the launch of the well.