Following a tender announced last year, Czech company MND Drilling & Services (MND-DS) has been assigned the contract for drilling of three or more geothermal wells in the Svinica-Durkov area of the city of Košice in Slovakia. The implementing partners for the geothermal heating project are Geoterm KOŠICE and MH Teplarensky holding.

Drilling rig of MND Drilling

The tender was conducted under the requirements of the Just Transition Fund, which had committed EUR 56.2 million in funding last year to support the project. The project aims for an installed thermal output of 30 MWt by July 2028, thus covering about a quarter of the total energy supply of the Košice heating plant.

EU funding for the geothermal project had already been announced in late 2023, with the categorization of the project as a “national priority project.”

The estimated price for one well after the competition is approximately EUR 7.5 million. Drilling work will be done in September 2025 at the location where Geoterm KOŠICE already has three functional geothermal wells. Completion of drilling work is expected at the end of May 2026. MND-DS plans to deploy a modern drilling rig from its fleet, the Bentec 350, near Košice, which is capable of reaching depths of up to six kilometers.

After the completion of the heat pipeline, local heat distribution company Tepláren Košice will be purchasing geothermal heat from Geoterm KOŠICE.