Assessment of Geothermal Fields in the South Pannonian Basin System Using a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Tool

Abstract

This paper analyses potential geothermal sites in North-East Croatia which is part of the Pannonian Basin System where a substantial geothermal potential was discovered during hydrocarbon exploration using the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Tool specially developed for the purposes of the Horizon 2020 project: Multidisciplinary and multi-context demonstration of EGS exploration and Exploitation Techniques and potentials (H2020 MEET). Most of these sites use available geothermal energy potential for commercial purposes, mainly for balneology and more recently for agriculture and electricity generation. The case study involves five different geothermal locations chosen according to their geothermal potential, the current state of production and possible future development, including one oil field that is at the very end of its production life. Three potential final users’ types; agriculture demand, electricity generation demand and district heating have been evaluated for each of the five chosen geothermal sites. The conducted analysis should be of great benefit for further analyses which will be carried out using the aforementioned Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Tool. The performed study showed high consistency of obtained results and actual usage of five geothermal fields.

Keywords

• case study
• final users
• geothermal potential
• multi-criteria decision-making
• pannonian basin system