Awarding of geothermal exploitation license to Bukotermal by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi
Bukotermal is a public company jointly owned by the Varazdin County (85%) and the Municipality of Mali Bukovec (15%). The license will allow the company to harness energy from geothermal resources at the Lunjkovec-Kutnjak field for 25 years.
“Northern Croatia is rich in geothermal resources, and I believe that the company Bukotermal will achieve success in the areas of research and exploitation. This project will enable the use of thermal energy, especially in the Municipality of Mali Bukovec,” said Andrej Plenkovi.
“The entire project has been designed in a meaningful and economically sustainable way, and I am convinced that there will be similar projects in other parts of the country.”
The Lunjkovec-Kutnjak field was one of four geothermal concessions offered by the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency for exploration in a bid round back in 2020. Exploration by Bukotermal thus proceeded in 2022, eventually determining a 16-MW capacity target for the planned geothermal power project. The exploration work indicated a geothermal resource with temperature of about 142 °C at a depth of 2.4 kilometers.
According to the studies done by Bukotermal, the geothermal field can support a capacity of 16.5 MW of electricity and almost 90 MW of thermal energy. The plan is to use the energy for electricity production, and also use the thermal energy to support the agrothermal and tourist sectors.
Bukotermal Director Alen Pozgaj stated that work is already underway on designing the hot water pipeline that will connect the Kutnjak 1 exploration well with the Lunjkovec 1 exploration well. The drilling of a new production well is also being planned.
