“Without the Icelandic partner and their experience on board, we would not have achieved this much. The partner’s input and technical knowledge enabled us to go ahead with the geothermal development,” said Consellor in Oradea municipality, Oana Nicula.
The municipality is replacing coal with thermal energy produced from geothermal water contributing to reduce CO2 emissions. In addition, the change from fossil fuels to geothermal energy increases energy security by shifting to local resources and prices remain stable, giving a long term benefit to consumers. Both houses and a school in Oradea will be benefit from the change to this renewable energy source.
Geothermal energy is a form of heat accessible from below the Earth’s surface. In Iceland - one of the three donor countries of the EEA Grants - it is used to heat about nine out of ten households.
“We have used the experiences from Iceland to inform the public and the local authorities of the benefits of geothermal energy. The project has opened the eyes of the local decision makers,” said Arni Gunnarsson from Icelandic Geothermal Engineering, which is also participating in three other projects in Romania, contributing technical support, know-how and machinery.
Iceland is a world leader in the use of geothermal energy. With more than 40 years of experience in utilising, extracting and developing this sort of energy, and with several high profile companies with expertise in this field, Iceland has put geothermal energy in the forefront of its cooperation with the beneficiary countries. Read more.
More information
Project promoter: Municipality of Oradea
Project partner: Icelandic Geothermal Engineering
Grant amount: € 3.3 million
Project link: http://bit.ly/1TluXb8