On Saturday 3 May 2025, the Open Day at the RINGEN Geothermal Centre in Litoměřice attracted the general public, from young children to curious seniors. Visitors had the opportunity to learn about the unique SYNERGYS project, which focuses on the use of geothermal energy and other renewable resources.
Open Day Programme
After registering and filling in questionnaires, there was a rich programme prepared. Lectures on the SYNERGYS project were held three times during the day. The lectures included information on two newly drilled exploration wells within the European PUSH-IT project. The data from these boreholes will be used to size the borehole fields that will be used for inter-seasonal heat storage. Visitors were keenly interested, for example, in the potential of these boreholes and the drilling technology.
They also learned interesting data about geothermal energy and its use. Geothermal energy (GTE) covers only about 0.3% of global energy consumption, including both heat and electricity. The global energy consumption corresponds to a thermal output of 19 TW, which is comparable to the output of 3,000 Temelin nuclear power plants. GTE is a widely available heat source suitable for large installations and district heating and has the potential to replace fossil sources in these areas. The heating sector, which is heavily dependent on them, produces more than 40% of the energy sector's CO2 emissions.
The main types of GTE sources in the Czech Republic include:
- Shallow sources: depths up to 400 m, temperatures of 10-30 °C, heat pumps are used and outputs range from tens of kW to units of MW.
- Medium sources: depths of about 400-1000 m, temperatures of about 15-80 °C, heat pumps are used and outputs are in the units of MW.
- Deep sources: depths from about 2000 m, temperatures above 80 °C, hydrothermal or stimulated “dry” sources are used and outputs are in the units of MW to tens of MW.
Within the SYNERGYS project two deep geothermal boreholes are planned with a depth of 3 - 3.5 km, using a temperature of around 100 °C. The shallow boreholes will be used for seasonal storage of heat produced from spring to autumn by solar systems.
The lecture was followed by guided tours of the geothermic and geological laboratory with demonstrations of drill cores and a tour of the deepest exploratory geothermal borehole in the country to date, up to 2 km deep, which houses a seismometer for measuring earth tremors at a depth of 1500 m below ground. In the laboratory, experts from the Faculty of Science of Charles University and the Czech Geological Survey presented instruments for analysing the thermal properties of drill cores obtained from the just completed 516 m deep exploratory borehole. On the examples of drill cores from different depths, the scientists demonstrated not only the interesting geology of the site, but also the method of drilling. The tour of the centre, which lasted 90 minutes, was a fascinating experience for many.
For the younger participants, there was a game room with colouring pages on the theme of geothermal potential and the opportunity to cut miniature ‘drill cores’ out of a cake.
Public interest and the future of geothermal energy
The event was very popular, with a total of 109 visitors. Professor Tomas Fischer, director of the SYNERGYS project and of the RINGEN Centre, expressed his delight at the interest and emphasised that geothermal energy is a strategic resource that is available right under our feet. ‘The RINGEN Centre plans to continue with similar events in the future. Next year interested parties can look forward to seeing the above-ground technologies installed and the start of their test operation,’ added Tomáš Fischer.
The open day was part of the Roadshow for a #strongerfuture, which took place in Litoměřice from 2 to 6 May and presented Czech technological achievements and innovative fields. Visitors could enjoy lectures, an audiovisual exhibition and real-life demonstrations of nine pioneering projects. A shuttle service was provided between the main square of Litomerice and the RINGEN Centre.
Statistics from the Open Day
The questionnaires show that the most frequent reason for visiting the Open Day was interest in the geothermic laboratory and drilling cores (41%) and interest in geothermal energy use (33%). 19% of visitors were interested in the SYNERGYS project and only 3% admitted that they were not interested in geothermal energy and came out of curiosity.
Interestingly, among the renewable energy sources, visitors considered geothermal energy to be the most promising in our climate (46%), followed by solar energy (28%), hydropower (18%), wind energy (14%) and biomass (12%).
Most visitors (64%) have at least a general idea about geothermal energy, 30% are interested in it for a long time and 10% have not heard about it before.
