While almost every other news provider is freaking out about Russia threatening Norway over an increase in US troops on Norwegian soil, yours truly thinks that it’s better to have a curiosity piece – and so here we are.

In a pilot project in Norway, the operator of the Gardermoen airport in Oslo under the project management of Rock Energy has drilled two wells that aims to utilise geothermal energy for heating an engine test site during winter times.

Oslo Gardermoen, the airport of Norway’s Capital Oslo, is currently seeing the drilling of the deepest geothermal well in the country. The airport plans to utilise geothermal energy to heat an engine test site of the airport during the winter periods.

The project is driven by airport operator Avinor, by Norwegian company Rock Energy, in partnership with the company Båsum Boring through its joint venture Norwegian Energy Drilling, as reported by Standby Nordic.

The ground-breaking – literally – Norwegian technology “allows us to drill the deepest land-based geothermal borehole in Norway ever,” enthuses Henning Bråtebæk, director of airside operations. “It will enable us to use the heat in the ground to heat buildings or other major installations.”

The project aims to pump down cold water deep into the well, see it heated up below and then return it to the surface. There it can then be used for heating buildings and in this case to keep the engine test site free of snow during the winter time.

“We’ve drilled to a depth of 1,500 metres for both wells, and when the project is completed they should be capable of heating the entire area of the engine test site. This has never been achieved before in Norway,” says Thor Erik Musæus of Rock Energy, the project’s general manager, who adds that the extracted energy could also be used to heat large buildings.

“The heat extracted from one of these boreholes corresponds to the effect of around one hundred radiators.”

Source: Standby Nordic