Belgrade, 3 February 2023 – In partnership with the Ministry of Mining and Energy and in cooperation with the Administration for Joint Services of Republic Bodies and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) implemented research of geothermal resources on the location of the “Palace of Serbia” building. Preliminary results confirm the existence of a potential for application of geothermal energy which can satisfy a significant portion of this building’s energy demands. Financial profitability of this potential will be determined through developing a feasibility study.

Based on the assessed value of heating energy, cooling energy and the energy for the production of hot sanitary water that could be gained, should a site of petrogeothermal energy exploitation be opened at the “Palace of Serbia” location, it has been concluded that the geothermal potential is sufficient to satisfy the heating needs of the building for 2019, 2020 and 2022. The feasibility study and energy reviews would provide a more precise picture of the building’s energy requirements, possibility to utilise the geothermal potentials, as well as potential decrease in the CO2 emission, through the use of the geothermal energy.

The field works on exploring geothermal resources were realised between July and October 2022 and they included exploration of groundwater and petrogeothermal resources as renewable energy source, for the purpose of heating and cooling, and production of sanitary hot water.

The realised exploration efforts are the initial step in energy rehabilitation of the “Palace of Serbia” building, and it will be followed by the Feasibility Study of energy rehabilitation of the building to determine the scope, type and the manner of using renewable energy systems, after which the required design and technical documentation will be made. 

Using geothermal resources in producing energy for the “Palace of Serbia” building would lead to a reduction in fossil fuels consumption, and subsequently also CO2 emission. Furthermore, this would result in better working conditions for the employees and reduce costs of energy. Finally, this would address the ever increasing need of introducing new, locally available and clean energy sources and contribute to the green transition of the Serbian economy and society.

The realised exploration project is the second of this kind in central government buildings, after the last year’s research made at the location of the “SIV 3” building, which also indicated that the location has a potential for application of geothermal energy.

The exploration of geothermal resources at the location of the “Palace of Serbia” building was made possible due to the financial support by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and the CEB Trust Fund financed by the Republic of Slovakia and the Kingdom of Spain. It is a part of a series of preparatory activities the aim of which is to improve energy efficiency in central government buildings. These activities are the initial step in realising the multi-year program “Energy Efficiency in Central Government Buildings” which involves 28 buildings and is worth 40 million euros.