The search for geothermal resources in the Podhale Region began in the late 1980s. The Banska IG-1 well, drilled in 1981, served as the starting point for an expansion of those research activities. A geothermal pilot plant was put into operation in 1993. During that same year the company Geotermia Podhalanska (GP) was founded and the pilot project, including the first distribution network for 20 customers, was constructed. After the initial phase of project implementation from 1993 to 1995, during which a pilot plant was constructed and put into operation for demonstration purposes by the Polish Academy for Sciences using the first geothermal doublet (a production well in Banska Nizna and a reinjection well in Bialy Dunajec), and connection of 200 households through a small district heating network, the World Bank got involved in the geothermal district heating project. Since then, significant progress has been made, increasing the overall heat capacity and geothermal output as well as the service area to the City of Zakopane, approx. 14 km from the production wells. In November 2001 the first geothermal heat was delivered to customers in Zakopane. (C) 2003 CNR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.