The Earth's heat content is about 1×1019 TJ (2.

8×1015 TWh) This heat naturally flows to the surface

by conduction at a rate of 44.2 TW and is replenished by radioactive decay at a rate of 30 TW. These
power rates are more than double humanity's current energy consumption from primary sources,
but most of this power is too diffuse (approximately 0.1 W/m2 on average) to be recoverable. The
Earth's crust effectively acts as a thick insulating blanket which must be pierced by fluid conduits (of
magma, water or other) to release the heat underneath.

Earth internal structure

Geothermal gradient adapted from Boehler, R. (1996)

Geothermal mechanisms by Plates’ Tectonics

 • Thermal effects lead to subsidence by changing the density structure of the lithosphere so that the
isostatic balance is changed.

• The lithosphere can heat up quickly (e.g. via intrusions) but cools more slowly by conduction. If
conduction is the primary means of cooling, the lithosphere cools first as a function of the square-root
of time and then, after a few tens of millions years, it cools as an exponential.

• As the lithosphere cools, it subsides because colder rock is denser and less buoyant than warm rock.
The total amount of time for the lithosphere to cool by conduction is about 150-200 million years.

• Everything else being equal, the total amount of subsidence during cooling is exactly equal to the total
amount of uplift during heating. Therefore is no net subsidence. Other event must occur to create basin
a basin by thermal processes. These processes include: erosion of uplifted areas, thickening of the
mantle lid during cooling, or thinning of the crust.

From inner zones to the surface the eEarth’s heat Flow (HF) he transfer processes are connected to
conveection cells, hot spots and lithosphere tinning.

Main heat transportation mechanisms

Romanian Territory Geothermal Fields Characterization and Potential

Theoretically, Romania has a remarkable potential in terms of geothermal energy, being considered the third
country in Europe, after Greece and Italy.

Figure below represents the map with the temperature distribution on the Romanian territory. The map illustrates
the areas with geothermal potential of Romania at a depth of 3,000 m
 Areas with geothermal potential of Romania at a depth of 3,000 m,

after to the EBRD study

On the Romanian territory, in most drillings performed for hydrocarbons, low and medium enthalpy
geothermal resources were found at depths between 800 m and 5,000 m with temperatures
between 40 ÷ 170ºC. Eg. The Girisu de Cris Well at 3900 m 163 0 C unstable regime (real temperature
is higher.

Experimental exploitation of approx. 100 drillings, in the last 25 years, allowed the realization of
some evaluations of the energetic potential of this type of resource.
According to the gelogical frame the geothermal resources may be used for different scopes and
needs different types of technologies.

The main factors are:

 Depth range according to temperature

 Lithology
 Formation’s water saturation
 Expected power

Temperature

In this manner related to expected temperature there are more geothermal fields and targets:

 Power Plants: High temperature more than 150-160 C deg, depths from 4500 to 7000m
 Domestic (houses, towns) heating systems more than 80-90 deg.
 Spa, tourism, 40-60 deg
 Greenhoses etc

The use of geothermal energy depends on the thermal parameters of the resource. For resources
with geothermal fluids exceeding 150 ° C they can be used for electricity production, being fully
technically and economically justified (the current minimum threshold for electricity production is 97
° C). Below this temperature, geothermal energy is used in direct processing technologies, most of
which are built as cascade systems.

A wide efficient use of geothermal energy, in cascade system, can be in : – Industry (heating, drying)
at a temperature of 100 - 90° C; – District heating (heating homes, hospitals, institutions etc.), at a
temperature of 90 - 60° C; – Agriculture (greenhouses, heating crops), at a temperature of 70 - 60° C;
– Hot water preparation (fish farms, balneology, housekeeping) temperatures below 60° C.

Lithology
Lithology may provide both drilling difficulties and different termal gradients.They are related to the
nature of rocks, sedimentary versus methamorphic/igneous rocks (they will be largely presented
inthe main work).

Water

The rocks’ water content may be used for exploitation if it enogh, acoording to power, or it has to be
injected from surface heated, on a sufficient longue traject ( usualy horizontal) and extracted at
convenienet temperature

Drilling of geothermal wells

Drilling of geothermal wells is a complex of works for crossing, consolidating and isolating the rocks
crossed. The purpose of geothermal drilling works is to make boreholes in which ground geothermal
wells can be placed, which can capture the energy of the earth, later distributing it further to the
heating system. These works are performed with the help of special drilling rigs for geothermal wells.

The directional drilling of the wells, -in a direction other than the vertical one-, is imposed by certain
surface conditions or certain technicaleconomic conditions

Directional/horizontal drilling for geothermal resources Up left directional, up right horizontal

down connected
Enhanced geothermal system 1:Reservoir 2:Pump house 3:Heat exchanger 4:Turbine hall
5:Production well 6:Injection well 7:Hot water to district heating 8:Porous sediments
9:Observation well 10:Crystalline bedrock

A geothermal exploitation requires two wells :

1) one of production, which allows the extraction of hot water and,

2) one an injection, which allows the reinjection of cold (used) water into the layer.

The second borehole must be drilled so that its extremity is placed at an optimal distance from the
first borehole, in order to avoid a too rapid drop in the temperature of the exploited water.

The practical realization of this system consists in drilling two boreholes

Advantages and Disadvantages to using geothermal energy

Advantages

There are many advantages to using geothermal energy either directly or indirectly: – Geothermal
energy is renewable; it is not a fossil fuel that will be eventually used up. The Earth is continuously
radiating heat out from its core, and will continue to do so for billions of years; – Some form of
geothermal energy can be accessed and harvested anywhere in the world; – Using geothermal
energy is relatively clean. Most systems only emit water vapor, although some emit very small
amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulates; – Geothermal power plants can last for
decades and possibly centuries. If a reservoir is managed properly, the amount of extracted energy
can be balanced with the rock’s rate of renewing its heat; – Unlike other renewable energy sources,
geothermal systems are “baseload.” This means they can work in the summer or winter, and are not
dependent on changing factors such as the presence of wind or sun. Geothermal power plants
produce electricity or heat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; – The space it takes to build a geothermal
facility is much more compact than other power plants (for example, wind energy or a solar
photovoltaic center); – Geothermal energy systems are adaptable to many different conditions. They
can be used to heat, cool, or power individual homes, whole districts, or industrial processes;

Disadvantages

Harvesting geothermal energy still poses many challenges: – The process of injecting high-pressure
streams of water into the Earth can result in minor seismic activity, or small earthquakes; – Water
that flows through underground reservoirs can pick up trace amounts of toxic elements such as
arsenic, mercury, and selenium. These harmful substances can be leaked to water sources if the
geothermal system is not properly insulated.

Favorable zones

In the map below are presented the most relevant zones for geothermal resources exploitation
Romanian geothermal map. Temperature distribution at 3000m depth and heat flow rate (from
Romanian Goelogy and Geophisycs NationalInstitute data)

The black areas represents the volcanic Miocene chian with a high temperature gradient bur the
lithology implies high costs for drilling so they are not competitive for the moment.

The red areas are the favorable zones competitive for geothremal investments.They are, form North
to south: Oradea, Arad-Timisoara-Jimbolia (Pannonian Depr.), West Moesia Leu-Bals up to Balotesti,
Bordei Verde, Mangalia (Moesian Platform).

Note. The existence of more than 70000 wells drilled for petroleum in Romania down to 7000m , their
majority abandoned they mai provide a large scale acces to geothermal resources.A study concerning
the tschnological status and exploitation posibilities of these wells for geothermal activities may be
provided, for example in asociation with Oil and Gas Univ of Ploiesti.

Parameters Oradea Bors Beius Campia Olt North

de Vest Valey Bucuresti
Obs.Area 7 12 47 2500 10 300
(kmp)
Deep 2.2-3.2 2.4-4.8 2.4-2.8 0.8-4.5 2.5-3.0 2.5-3.2
(Km)
Temp 70-105 120- 84 50-170 70-90 50-81
(C deg) 170
Reserves for
20 years
Flow rate 4-20 10-15 4-12 4-18 12-25 22-28
(L/sec)
Exploitations 15 6 3 88 4 18
Total
Source CJ.Ilfov, with modifications.

Existing exploitations

Experience gained

At this moment in Romania there are relative few geothermal resources functioning units.

1. Oradea Municipium heating sistem. Were drilled 2 wells at 2800 and 3000 m . They provide
the necessary water for the heating system of Nofaru Zone about 30000 -50000people.
Temperature at surface about 85 C deg.
2. Livada
 3. Beius city heating system. The entire city is heated by 2 wells sith similar temperatures.
4. Agripa Hospital, heated by geothermal water
5. Baloterti Terme- Spa center

World examples
Abandoned project: The abandoned well of the geothermal project in St. Gallen in Switzerland 2018-
Causes gases and micoearthquakes-reopened
Legislation main regulation

ORDER NO. 98 of 3 June 2008amending the Order of the President ANRM No. 87/2008 for the
approval of the Technical Instructions for the classification and evaluation of mineral resources /
reserves of natural mineral water, therapeutic mineral water, geothermal water accompanying gas
and combustible gas.

Land owners:

According to romanian legislation there are two categories of assets

Land owner –possesing only the surface of the land

State possesing all the resources of underground , including geothermal resources.

The operator who obtained the resource exploitation must pay a royalty to the Competent Authority,
NAMR. It is paid for production not for the exploration phase.

For prospetion phase is necessary to obtain an Permmit, valid for a period of mainly 3-5 years.

The exploration permit involve some obligativities for the prospector. If they are not achieved the
prospector must pay their value. Eg. Chevron case.

Land prices:

For a geothermal power plan are necessary two locations exctraction well and power plant, about
30000 m2 for a medium power 1016 MW, and a site for injection well 8000m 2 , necessary in the first
stage for rig emplacement.

The land price is variable from 1 to teens of $ per sqm.