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Geothermal Power Project’s Manageable Risks in Hungary

Received: 3 February 2021    Accepted: 2 August 2021    Published: 30 August 2021
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Abstract

There are many compelling arguments for using geothermal energy in Hungary. One of the most important is that the country could thereby exploit its abundant, relatively untapped network of geothermal reservoirs. These are considerably warmer and closer to the surface than in most of Europe. In the foreseeable future, Hungary’s geothermal resources can satisfy the conditions required for efficient energy production. The tremendous amount of energy stored in our geothermal reservoirs could satisfy much of the country’s long-term energy demand. Every geothermal project is designed to fulfill its project objectives by meeting time, budget, technical, and legal/regulatory provisions. Geothermal development is necessarily exposed to risks of varying degrees throughout its development, something which distinguishes geothermal from other kinds of renewable-energy projects. These risks most often concern the availability, amount, suitability, sustainability and use-potential of the geothermal resource, but may also include market, financing, commercial and macro-economic risks. This article describes the geological background and geothermal potential in Hungary. Hungary’s current geothermal production remains at a low level, given its proven capacity. Although Hungary lacks an overarching national plan for specifically exploiting its geothermal resources, the 2018 National Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) highlights the promotion of clean and renewable energies. Geothermal clearly fits into this scheme, as S3 is designed to include renewables, nuclear energy and increased energy efficiency in conventional energy production. Furthermore, in 2020 the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA) compiled a plan to promote the greater use of geothermal energy. Based on the Hungarian government’s geothermal investment support scheme, the authors have presented a risk-based assessment of Hungary’s geothermal development possibilities, differentiated in terms of low, medium and high risk levels.

Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14
Page(s) 170-179
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Geothermal Risk, Uncertainty, Investment, Abandoned Hydrocarbon Wells, Support, Hungary, EU

References
[1] Buday, T., Szűcs, P., Kozák, M., Püspöki, Z., McIntosh, R. W., Bódi, E., Bálint, B. and K. Bulátkó, 2015. Sustainability aspects of thermal water production in the region of Hajdúszoboszló-Debrecen, Hungary. Environmental Earth Sciences, 73 (7), Paper 3983-1, 11 p.
[2] Otis, R. M., Schneidermann, N., 1997. A Process for Evaluating Exploration Prospects, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 81, 1-7.
[3] Nador, A., Kujbus, A., and Tóth, A. N., 2019. Geothermal energy use, country update for Hungary. Proceedings, European Geothermal Congress 2019, Den Haag, The Netherlands.
[4] Szűcs P., Madarász T., 2013: Hydrogeology int he Carpathian basin – how to proceed? European Geologist, No. 35, May 2013, ISSN: 1028-267X, pp. 17-20.
[5] Toth, A., Bobok E., 2017. Flow and Heat Transfer in Geothermal Systems, Elsevier, Amsterdam, ISBN 978-0-12800277-3, pp 3-4.
[6] Toth, A., 2020: Hungarian Country Update Report, World Geothermal Congress 2020, Reykjavik, Iceland.
[7] GEORISK PROJECT, 2018. https://www.georisk-project.eu
[8] GEOENVI PROJECT, 2018. https://www.geoenvi.eu
[9] Toth, A. 20217: Creating a Geothermal Atlas of Hungary, PROCEEDINGS. 42nd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Stanford University. Stanford. California. SGP-TR-212.
[10] Toth A., Szucs, P., Pap, J., Nyikos, A. and Fenerty, D., 2018: Converting Abandoned Hungarian Oil and Gas wells into Geothermal Sources, PROCEEDINGS, 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Stanford University, Stanford, California, SGP-TR-213.
[11] World Bank 2016: Comparative Analysis of Approaches to Geothermal Resource Risk Mitigation, Report Number 105172, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/621131468180534369/pdf/105172-ESM-P144569-PUBLIC-FINAL-ESMAP-GeoRiskMitigation-KS024-16-web.pdf
[12] Paul K. Ngugi, 2014. Risk and Risk Mitigation in Geothermal Development, Presented at “Short Course VI on Utilization of Low- and Medium-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources and Financial Aspects of Utilization”, organized by UNU-GTP and LaGeo, in Santa Tecla, El Salvador.
[13] European Commission 2020: Hungary’s National Energy Efficiency Action Plan until 2020, Mandatory reporting under Article 24 (2) of Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency.
[14] Robertson-Tait, A., Jayawardena, M., Sanyal, S., Berman, L. and Huttrer, G. 2015: An Evaluation of Risk Mitigation Approaches for Geothermal Development, Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2015, Melbourne, Australia.
[15] Tester, J. W., Anderson, B. J., Batchelor, A. S., Blackwell, D. D., DiPippo, R., Drake, E. M. Veatch, R. W., 2016. The Future of Geothermal Energy. Idaho National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Aniko Toth, Peter Szucs, David Fenerty. (2021). Geothermal Power Project’s Manageable Risks in Hungary. Earth Sciences, 10(4), 170-179. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14

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    ACS Style

    Aniko Toth; Peter Szucs; David Fenerty. Geothermal Power Project’s Manageable Risks in Hungary. Earth Sci. 2021, 10(4), 170-179. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14

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    AMA Style

    Aniko Toth, Peter Szucs, David Fenerty. Geothermal Power Project’s Manageable Risks in Hungary. Earth Sci. 2021;10(4):170-179. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14,
      author = {Aniko Toth and Peter Szucs and David Fenerty},
      title = {Geothermal Power Project’s Manageable Risks in Hungary},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {10},
      number = {4},
      pages = {170-179},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20211004.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20211004.14},
      abstract = {There are many compelling arguments for using geothermal energy in Hungary. One of the most important is that the country could thereby exploit its abundant, relatively untapped network of geothermal reservoirs. These are considerably warmer and closer to the surface than in most of Europe. In the foreseeable future, Hungary’s geothermal resources can satisfy the conditions required for efficient energy production. The tremendous amount of energy stored in our geothermal reservoirs could satisfy much of the country’s long-term energy demand. Every geothermal project is designed to fulfill its project objectives by meeting time, budget, technical, and legal/regulatory provisions. Geothermal development is necessarily exposed to risks of varying degrees throughout its development, something which distinguishes geothermal from other kinds of renewable-energy projects. These risks most often concern the availability, amount, suitability, sustainability and use-potential of the geothermal resource, but may also include market, financing, commercial and macro-economic risks. This article describes the geological background and geothermal potential in Hungary. Hungary’s current geothermal production remains at a low level, given its proven capacity. Although Hungary lacks an overarching national plan for specifically exploiting its geothermal resources, the 2018 National Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) highlights the promotion of clean and renewable energies. Geothermal clearly fits into this scheme, as S3 is designed to include renewables, nuclear energy and increased energy efficiency in conventional energy production. Furthermore, in 2020 the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA) compiled a plan to promote the greater use of geothermal energy. Based on the Hungarian government’s geothermal investment support scheme, the authors have presented a risk-based assessment of Hungary’s geothermal development possibilities, differentiated in terms of low, medium and high risk levels.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - There are many compelling arguments for using geothermal energy in Hungary. One of the most important is that the country could thereby exploit its abundant, relatively untapped network of geothermal reservoirs. These are considerably warmer and closer to the surface than in most of Europe. In the foreseeable future, Hungary’s geothermal resources can satisfy the conditions required for efficient energy production. The tremendous amount of energy stored in our geothermal reservoirs could satisfy much of the country’s long-term energy demand. Every geothermal project is designed to fulfill its project objectives by meeting time, budget, technical, and legal/regulatory provisions. Geothermal development is necessarily exposed to risks of varying degrees throughout its development, something which distinguishes geothermal from other kinds of renewable-energy projects. These risks most often concern the availability, amount, suitability, sustainability and use-potential of the geothermal resource, but may also include market, financing, commercial and macro-economic risks. This article describes the geological background and geothermal potential in Hungary. Hungary’s current geothermal production remains at a low level, given its proven capacity. Although Hungary lacks an overarching national plan for specifically exploiting its geothermal resources, the 2018 National Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) highlights the promotion of clean and renewable energies. Geothermal clearly fits into this scheme, as S3 is designed to include renewables, nuclear energy and increased energy efficiency in conventional energy production. Furthermore, in 2020 the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA) compiled a plan to promote the greater use of geothermal energy. Based on the Hungarian government’s geothermal investment support scheme, the authors have presented a risk-based assessment of Hungary’s geothermal development possibilities, differentiated in terms of low, medium and high risk levels.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Earth Science and Engineering Faculty, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary

  • Earth Science and Engineering Faculty, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary

  • Flatiron Tech Consulting, Inc., San Jose, the United States

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