Pilot geothermal power plant in Slovakia gains support from Czech EPH

Slovakia’s efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels have accelerated the implementation of geothermal projects in the country, which had begun gaining popularity even before the war in Ukraine started. One of the pilot projects has also attracted the attention of Czech energy company EPH. In response to the energy crisis, the European Commission is also focusing more on the potential of geothermal energy.

Slovak energy company Stredoslovenská energetika (SSE) holding recently invested in a pilot geothermal power plant project in the central Slovak city of Žiar nad Hronom, as reported by news portal EURACTIV. SSE holding is partly owned by the state and partly by EPH, the group of Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský.

The project was originally proposed by Slovak company PW Energy, which specialises in the use of geothermal energy. EPH and PW Energy announced on Thursday that EPH had acquired a stake in PW geoenergy, a PW Energy subsidiary established primarily to carry out the project in question. It was also decided to expand the project from the power plant’s original installed capacity of 13 MWe to 20 MWe.

Geothermal energy is the last renewable energy source not represented in Slovakia’s electricity generation mix, despite experts pointing to its enormous potential. At present, geothermal energy is used only in a small part of eastern Slovakia, and only for heating.

“The war in Ukraine shows that moving away from fossil fuels is not only an environmental interest for Slovakia, but also a security and strategic one. There is enormous geothermal energy potential underground, but the state is not developing it sufficiently,” said Michal Mašek of PW Energy.

However, with the war in Ukraine, the European Commission is now speaking more openly about geothermal potential. According to Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, geothermal energy could be used primarily for heating in the future, but also for electricity generation.