Poland's Jelenia Góra begins rig installation for 2,500 m C-3 geothermal well

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 11, the Cieplice C-3 geothermal exploration well in Jelenia Góra, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, entered the rig installation phase. The contractor ALGEO is assembling the drilling rig and supporting operational facilities at the well site on Cieplicka Street in Sobieszów to prepare for formal drilling. The well is planned to be drilled to 2,500 m. The construction contract had previously been awarded to ALGEO, and this milestone marks the transition from well site preparation to the mobilization and installation of drilling equipment.

Well C-3 is part of Jelenia Góra's "Geothermal Water Resource Exploration and Reserve Confirmation" project, with the Jelenia Góra municipal government as the project owner. Official municipal planning documents show that the well is located on plot 63/8 on Cieplicka Street, within the Karkonosze-Izera geological unit of the Sudetic Block. The designed final depth is 2,500 m. The target thermal reservoir is expected to begin at a depth of approximately 570 m and have a thickness of about 600 m, with the main reservoir lithologies including coarse-grained granite and granodiorite.

According to the existing hydrogeological model, Well C-3 is expected to yield 50–100 cubic meters per hour of geothermal water, with a designed average flow rate of approximately 75 cubic meters per hour; the wellhead water temperature is expected to exceed 90°C, the formation temperature is also above 90°C, and the mineralization is approximately 0.6–0.7 g/L. The nearby Cieplice C-1 well has previously confirmed 86.7°C geothermal water and a flow rate of 45 cubic meters per hour, providing an existing geological reference for the target parameters of Well C-3.

Drilling will use the rotary drilling method, employing water-based drilling fluid or compressed air-driven down-the-hole hammers depending on specific rock formation conditions. During drilling to the target depth, staged logging, temperature profiles, and hydrogeological tests will also be carried out, continuously recording parameters such as geothermal water flow rate, temperature, water level, or wellhead pressure. After drilling is completed, a hydrogeological report will be prepared to determine the exploitable geothermal water reserves and utilization conditions, and to serve as the technical basis for subsequent applications for a geothermal resource extraction permit.

The total project investment is approximately PLN 23.76 million, of which the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management provides a subsidy of approximately PLN 18.79 million, and the City of Jelenia Góra bears approximately PLN 4.97 million. The actual C-3 drilling construction contract amount is approximately PLN 19.45 million. The contract was signed in July 2025, with an execution period of 24 months, and is planned to be completed by July 2027. The overall project implementation period extends to the fourth quarter of 2027.