All thirty seniors who visited the center were interested in the progress of the SYNERGYS geothermal project, which is unique in the Czech Republic. It is being carried out by a consortium of partners led by the Faculty of Science of Charles University. The project builds on the long-standing efforts of the city of Litoměřice to find a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and offers a unique opportunity to become a pioneer in the field of geoenergy, i.e., energy sources located below the Earth's surface.
Geothermal energy will be extracted from shallow and deep boreholes, at depths of approximately 100 to 3,500 m. Shallow boreholes will mainly be used to store thermal energy produced in summer by solar panels on the roofs of surrounding buildings and to store waste heat from various technologies. Geothermal and solar systems will be complemented by the production of green hydrogen using electrolysis. “We would like to connect all these technologies into a functional technological 'ecosystem' that will be energy self-sufficient," explained project manager Antonín Tym. Part of the heat produced by renewable sources will be used for district heating in Litoměřice. There are more than two thousand centralized heating systems in the Czech Republic, which is one of the most extensive networks in Europe.
However, the Open Day was not just about theory. The seniors also visited a laboratory, where geophysicist Petr Dědeček from the Geophysical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences showed them the technology used by scientists to study the ability of rocks to accumulate and conduct heat. This property depends on the type of rock and the depth from which it originates. Geologist Vít Peřestý talked about the different types of rocks and the nature of the geological subsoil of Litoměřice site, as well as the importance of the seismic monitoring network, which, among other things, serves to ensure the safety of drilling operations in deep wells.
The participants were excited about the excursion. "It was incredibly interesting," said Jana Svatošová after leaving the laboratory, where she asked the scientist about the conductivity of rocks from the two recently drilled boreholes. These two new exploratory wells are being used to gather data on the rock type and its ability to conduct and accumulate heat. The first hydrogeological well is 202 meters deep, the second core well is 516 meters deep. The oldest borehole on the site, 2,111 meters deep, dates back to 2007. It is a valuable source of information for scientists and currently serves as one of the seismic monitoring wells, with a geophone located at a depth of 1,500 meters.
Today's Open Day dispelled people's concerns about the use of geothermal energy. With a few exceptions, visitors agreed (in an anonymous questionnaire) that they consider geothermal energy to be a promising source and support its use in Litoměřice.
