The Competitiveness of Geothermal Regard to Conventional Energy Carriers in the Selected Large Polish Heating Systems

Abstract

The paper presents the current price of energy payed by final user. The estimation take into account various energy carriers used to cover the demand for heating (space heating and domestic hot water) in Poland. The hard coal is still the most common used energy carrier in Poland. About ¾ of heat in Poland is generated base on coal. Coal is still widely recognized as the cheapest energy carrier. In the case of good reservoir conditions, geothermal energy can compete with hard coal in the scope of energy price. If the temperature of geothermal resources allows use it without the use of heat pumps (more than 70°C), then the price of energy for the final consumer may be comparable to the price characterizing the energy produced by hard coal. The energy prices estimated in the article were determined based on the settlement tariffs applicable in 2018 for most installations using geothermal energy and selected conventional energy carriers. The calculations show that geothermal energy is not more expensive than energy from conventional energy carriers (hard coal, heating oil, natural gas). The use of geothermal resources characterized by lower temperature (40-60°C), requiring the use of heat pumps, locates geothermal energy in the price range characteristic for natural gas and heating oil.