The UK Government must recognise the value of geothermal technology to de-risk geothermal developments across the country, delegates heard at TWI’s geothermal industry panel meeting.

British Geological Survey (BGS) head of geothermal energy research Corinna Abesser gave an overview of the challenges and opportunities that exist for geological resources in the UK at the event in Cambridge on Tuesday (20 September).

She said that geothermal, the energy stored in the form of heat beneath the earth’s surface, could make a “significant contribution” to the UK’s decarbonisation efforts and that there are “many opportunities for UK geothermal expansion”.

These opportunities include developing more minewater geothermal energy systems, which are geothermal energy systems drilled at 1-3km below ground. The system involves the extraction of natural geothermal-heated water that has gathered in underground networks of former deep coal mines. Over time, this water is warmed to a maximum of 30°C and could be used as a renewable energy source for homes and industry.

“The value of those resources is the vast amount of water you can pump and extract heat from and then re-circulate into the sub-surface,” Abesser said.

There are already four operational minewater geothermal systems in the UK, most of which are pumped minewater, such as Lanchester Wines' commercial minewater heating scheme in Gateshead.

But given that one quarter of residential properties in the UK sit on coalfields, the opportunities to expand mine energy systems could be much bigger.

Another opportunity is deep geothermal direct use and power projects. These deeper wells tap into the 200°C heat of radiothermal granites at 5km below ground.

There is one deep geothermal well in Southampton, two power projects in development in Cornwall and a few other deep wells that were drilled as part of the historical programme in the 1980s that are used for research.

From these deeper wells, which exploit the Mesozoic basin, the BGS estimates that the UK could get “at least 200 years’ worth of heating” for its domestic market.

Despite these opportunities, Abesser said that a significant barrier to geothermal development in this country is a lack of “policy support or recognition in government of the technology at this point in time”.

There are also huge costs associated with drilling and operations of geothermal power plants, particularly due to the highly aggressive nature of these natural environments.

Another barrier is a lack of good and available data. “We do need better data,” said Abesser. “We have data from 40 years ago, but, surely, we can do better and we need more.”

The BGS still uses data that was collected as part of a programme that was launched in the 1980s. This included research into the sedimentary basin which holds geothermal aquifers, into radiogenic granite that had potential for power generation, and drilling of deep wells and exploration boreholes.

So, while the BGS estimates the potential of the Mesozoic and granite basins in the UK, it also lacks the deep data to prove that the resources exist.

This data problem could be improved if industry was more collaborative and shared data and knowledge better, Abesser told the conference audience.

“We’ve seen this in countries like Germany and the Netherlands where data sharing is obligatory, and it does make a difference,” she added.

To collect better data, Abesser argued that what is needed above all is “demonstrator projects that provide economic case studies, that try to develop how geothermal could work in the UK and provide data over operational timescales”.

The research infrastructure that the BGS is currently developing across the UK promises to go some way to showing how geothermal can work in practice and accelerating its roll out as a preferred renewable resource.

So far, the BGS has developed research facilities in Glasgow to explore instrumentation in the mine systems, in Cheshire to explore the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer, and in Cardiff to explore the Quaternary aged sand and gravel aquifer.

These facilities will be open to the research community and industry, with the Glasgow Observatory already providing open access data.

Abesser is ultimately hopeful that the tide is changing and that government is now beginning to listen to the geothermal industry and understand the benefits of the technology.

“For the first time for decades we are actually seeing some recognition of geothermal in government and parliament. Northern Ireland has a strong emphasis on geothermal in their energy strategy and they have a geothermal advisory committee which looks into supporting demonstrator projects through their department for energy.

“In Great Britain, there have been investigations into the role geothermal could play, […] and there’s an ongoing inquiry by the environmental audit committee in parliament looking at geothermal.”

The deep geothermal energy white paper commissioned by the the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, which is due to be published early next year, indicates that, while there are challenges, “things are moving in the right direction”, concluded Abesser.

Want to read more? Subscribe to GE’s enewsletters and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

Tagged with: BGS data event Geothermal UK Government

Cornwall’s lithium enriched geothermal waters could “potentially” fulfil the UK’s lithium demand,…

A proposed geothermal power plant in Cornwall has been granted planning permission…

The UK Government has given the green light for National Highways’ A428…

The Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS) intends to formally launch…

Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion.

Business, International, Project, Industry, Weekly