Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport



22 July 2020

CNAB starts works for the exploration of geothermal water from Otopeni perimeter / Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport


Following the obtaining on 20.06.2020 of the “Concession License for the exploration of geothermal water from Otopeni perimeter - Airport, Ilfov County”, Bucharest Airports National Company will start the execution of the works related to the geothermal water exploration program from the two deep boreholes located in the airport perimeter that can be used in the supply and injection system.

By putting into operation the geothermal water drilling, the current thermal power plant no. 1 of Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport will be replaced with a geothermal power plant which will ensure the heating, in a first stage, of the airport technical area.

The exploration works which will be executed within the Geothermal Water Exploration Program aim at: (1) rehabilitation works of the 2 drillings; (2) mounting the reinjection pipe between the 2 boreholes and their hydrodynamic testing; (3) experimental operation of the two boreholes with daily monitoring (minimum 3 months); (4) collecting samples and performing geothermal water analyses; (5) greening and environmental protection works. The geothermal water exploration program will run for a period of 3 years, its value amounting to 3,765,301 lei.

By using geothermal energy and implicitly by replacing fossil fuels, CNAB contributes to the protection of the environment; in addition, the simultaneous use of geothermal water injection drilling in the geothermal reservoir leads to defining it as a renewable source.

We remind you that in the northern part of Bucharest and Ilfov County there are 24 wells associated with Otopeni – Bucharest North geothermal reservoir (located on a depth range between 1,800 and 3,200 m, with a determined area so far of 300 square km, and the geothermal gradient having a value between 2.8 - 3.4 ° Celsius / 100m). Of these, 18 wells are productive, and it is possible to use them for the production or reinjection of geothermal water. The temperatures obtained by these drillings are between 58 and 84 degrees Celsius, and the flows between 22 and 35 l / s. In the perimeter of Otopeni, the extracted geothermal water can reach a temperature of 60 - 65 ° Celsius.