The environmental and economic aspects of the use of geothermal energy under the innovated concept

The ambitious aim of exploiting the geothermal potential of the Kosice basin according to current ideas should be implemented in two phases. In the first stage, a capacity of existing geothermal wells should be primarily used to produce electricity and in the second stage it should be used as a heat supply in the surrounding areas. In the second stage, Kosice district heating system should be fed with the heat from the newly constructed geothermal doublets. The fate of geothermal power plant is still uncertain despite the fact that it should have been put into operation in 2011. One of the reasons is the unsatisfactory economic efficiency plan. The authors deal with the possibility of innovation of the original concept in which electricity would be produced in a hybrid power station based on a combination of geothermal energy and biomass. The paper presents principled account of economic and environmental aspects of innovation.