Serbia Country Update

Abstract

Geothermal investigations in Serbia began in 1974, after the first world oil crises. A first assessment of geothermal resources has been made for all of Serbia in 1989. The territory of Serbia has favorable geothermal characteristics. There are four geothermal provinces. The most promising are the Pannonian and Neogen magmatic activation provinces. More than eighty low enthalphy hydrogeothermal systems are present in Serbia. The most important are located at the southern edge of the Pannonian Basin. The reservoirs of this systems are in karstified Mesozoic limestones with a thickness of more than 500 m. Within the territory of Serbia excluding the Pannonian Basin, i.e. the terrain comprising solid rocks, there are 159 natural thermal springs with temperatures over 25 oC. The warmest springs (96 oC) are in Vranjska spa, followed by Josanicka spa (78 oC), Sijarinska spa (72 oC) Kursumlijska spa (68 oC), Novopazarska spa (54 oC). The total flow of all natural springs is about 4000 l/s. Geothermal energy in Serbia is being utilized for balneological purposes, in agriculture and for space heating with heat exchangers and heat pumps. Geothermal energy in Serbia is being utilized for balneological purposes, in agriculture and for space heating with heat exchangers and heat pumps with total thrmal power of 100.8 MWt.