Geothermal Energy Cornwall

Julian turner talks to robin shail of the university of exeter s camborne school of mines about the challenge of sourcing funding and drilling three miles below the surface.

Geothermal energy cornwall.

The deep geothermal resource in cornwall represents a significant opportunity for renewable heat and power generation. The deepest geothermal energy well ever drilled into the earth s crust in britain has been completed right here in cornwall. This is an exciting step towards the realisation of low carbon lithium extraction from geothermal waters in cornwall and compliments our work to date on exploring for. Geothermal engineering ltd gel and eden geothermal ltd egl.

Gel has drilled two deep wells from its united downs site near redruth egl hopes to be drilling a well from the eden project site in 2020. Egs energy is a development and consultancy company with unique access to engineered geothermal system technology and know how. There are two companies developing deep geothermal resources in cornwall. With projects under way in cornwall and consultancy work worldwide egs energy is leading the development of deep geothermal energy resources in the uk on a commercial scale.

Seismicity can be complex and most people only know about the destruction of high magnitude earthquakes. In the 1970 s and 80 s the world renowned hot dry rocks project at rosemanowes quarry in penryn led by camborne school of mines confirmed the high temperatures which are found deep underground in cornwall s granite. But the uk experiences earthquakes frequently. Cornwall is now home to a number of geothermal projects.

Robin shail go to top in cornwall you can drill to shallower depths to achieve the. Over 600 have been recorded in cornwall since the 1980s. These are renewable energy projects and do not involve fracking. One potential cause of public concern with geothermal energy is the possibility of triggering small earthquakes.

Back in 2018 drilling started for the u k s first geothermal power plant at the united downs industrial estate near redruth. Eden geothermal has secured funding of 9 9m from the european regional development fund alongside 1 4m from cornwall council and 5 5m from institutional investors. The united downs deep geothermal power project in cornwall promises to make deep geothermal energy generation a reality in the uk. A company built by a group of like minded people who believe in sustainability and that geothermal should fill the gap for 24 7 renewable energy production regardless of the weather.

Eden project egs energy ltd and bestec uk ltd to unlock the geothermal energy deep in the granite beneath cornwall.