Drilling in Szaflary. More problems at the deepest geothermal drilling in Poland

The geothermal well in Szaflary is to reach a depth of seven kilometres and is to be the deepest in Poland.

– The pipe was torn and the process of pulling out all the pipe elements, i.e. a set of over 600 pipes with an auger, lasted for several days. All these elements were sent for regeneration, the so-called hardbanding. The elements are to be prepared for further work. Their regeneration time will take about two weeks – informed the mayor of the Szaflary commune, Rafał Szkaradziński.

This is the third downtime in the work on the deepest geothermal well in Poland. Since the previous failure of the main engine of the drilling rig, which occurred in August, less than 50 m has been drilled. Earlier, in April, work was suspended because at a depth of 5,900 m very hard rock formations were encountered, and in addition the walls of the well began to crumble.

The Mayor of Szaflary now wants the company performing the drilling, UOS Drilling SA, to describe how the pipe could have been torn and what further steps it will take. He explained that the Commune signed a so-called “turnkey” contract with the company, meaning that the failures will not increase the costs of the entire investment, which was originally supposed to be completed at the turn of March and April this year.

According to the design assumptions, at the bottom of the seven-kilometre borehole there was to be a geothermal spring with a temperature above 150 degrees Celsius. Already at a depth of approx. 5 km, deposits of hot springs with a temperature of approx. 120 degrees Celsius were encountered, and higher up, at a depth of approx. 3 km, the first aquifer with a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius was encountered.

Hot water is to be used mainly for heating buildings in the Szaflary commune and Nowy Targ. The total investment cost is PLN 132 million. The works are financed in full by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.