| Thermal water resources in Hungary, their utilisation and protection |  |
ECONOMIC QUESTIONS
In the balneological utilisation of thermal waters also economic questions arise, although they are not decisive (e.g. is it worthwhile to construct thermal bath in each municipality where the hydrogeological situation is favourable or is it better to develop the existing ones?).
In connection with the development of medicinal tourism one has to think not only of thermal wells and baths but also of other associated projects and infrastructure requiring development (accommodation, communication, entertainment, etc.).
In the energetic utilisation of thermal waters economy is already a decisive aspect and to these economic questions different answers can be given depending on the variations of the price of alternative energy sources.
Economy is fundamentally influenced by environmental aspects as well, namely by the necessity of reinjection which significantly increases both the investment- and operational costs.
Due to the increase of the price of alternative energy sources the utilisation of geothermal energy can be an economical solution. In the course of a survey in 1997 several variants were studied with the assumption of 25 % interestless loan and 30 % support, free of refunding. The studies have displayed that a doublet of production- and injection wells of 2000 m depth with 80 o C wellhead temperature and 40 o C utilisation range can be economic if the flow reaches the 90 m 3 /h value (the recovery index was assumed higher than 17 %). More favourable possibilities of thermal water exploration were also studied; the recovery index in these cases reached the 49 %.
The situation is even more favourable if only the reinjection well should be drilled near the existing thermal water well. An example can be seen for the above mentioned in Table 3 together with the illustration of investment- and operational costs.
| Table 3 | |
Investment- and operational costs of thermal water production- and reinjection wells (M. Szőcs)
| Variant C (well depth = 2000 m, t = 80 o C, Δt = 40 o C) | |
Prices from the year 1997*
|
Costs/sub-variants
|
Full technology |
Reinjection only |
|
60 m 3 /h |
90 m 3 /h |
120 m 3 /h |
60 m 3 /h |
90 m 3 /h |
120 m 3 /h |
|
Investment costs 1000 Ft |
|
Drilling of production well |
73 000,0 |
73 000,0 |
73 000,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
|
Technological installations of production |
10 000,0 |
12 500,0 |
15 000,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
|
Technological installations of energy utilisation |
6 500,0 |
8 250,0 |
10 000,0 |
3 900,0 |
4 950,0 |
6 000,0 |
|
Technical installations of water treatment and reinjection |
8000,0 |
11 500,0 |
15 000,0 |
8 000,0 |
11 500,0 |
15 000,0 |
|
Pipeline (500 m) |
7 500,0 |
7 500,0 |
7 500,0 |
7 500,0 |
7 500,0 |
7 500,0 |
|
Drilling of reinjection well |
88 160,0 |
88 160,0 |
88 160,0 |
88 160,0 |
88 160,0 |
88 160,0 |
|
Electricity, measurement technology, control engineering |
3 000,0 |
3 500,0 |
4 000,0 |
1 800,0 |
2 100,0 |
2 400,0 |
|
Construction works |
6 000,0 |
7 000,0 |
8 000,0 |
2 400,0 |
2 800 |
3 200,0 |
|
Planning, engineering services |
10 108,0 |
10570,5 |
11 033,0 |
5 588,0 |
5 580,5 |
6 113,0 |
|
Total |
212 268,0 |
221 980,0 |
231 693,0 |
117 348,0 |
122 860,5 |
129 373,0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operational costs 1000 Ft |
|
Electricity |
2 250,0 |
3 375,0 |
4 500,0 |
2 250,0 |
3 375,0 |
4 500,0 |
|
Royalty |
669,5 |
1 004,2 |
1 339,0 |
669,5 |
1 004,2 |
1 339,0 |
|
Maintenance |
9 591,2 |
9 882,6 |
10 174,0 |
9 591,2 |
9 882,6 |
10 174,0 |
|
Personal costs |
5 000,0 |
5 001,0 |
5 000,0 |
5 000,0 |
5 001,0 |
5 000,0 |
|
Total |
17 510,7 |
19 262,9 |
21 0013,0 |
17 510,7 |
19 262,9 |
21 013,0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Incomes (expenditures) 1000 Ft |
|
Value of energy utilised |
35 915,9 |
53 873,8 |
71 831,8 |
35 915,9 |
53 873,8 |
71 831,8 |
* Prices in 2001 are higher by somewhat 50 %
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