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The potential for exploiting
geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
in the United Kingdom on a commercial basis was initially examined by the
Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...
in the wake of the
1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
. Several regions of the country were identified, but interest in developing them was lost as
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
prices fell. Although the UK is not actively volcanic, a large heat resource is potentially available via shallow geothermal
ground source heat pumps A ground source heat pump (also geothermal heat pump) is a heating/cooling system for buildings that uses a type of heat pump to transfer heat to or from the ground, taking advantage of the relative constancy of temperatures of the earth through ...
, shallow aquifers and deep saline aquifers in the mesozoic basins of the UK. Geothermal energy is plentiful beneath the UK, although it is not readily accessible currently except in specific locations.


History

Ancient legend credited the early Celtic kings with the discovery of the
thermal spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s at the Roman Baths in
Aquae Sulis Aquae Sulis (Latin for ''Waters of Sulis'') was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is the English city of Bath, Somerset. The Antonine Itinerary register of Roman roads lists the town as ''Aquis Sulis.'' Ptolemy records ...
(modern city of Bath) which then fell into disrepair during the Dark Ages and were not rediscovered until the 18th century, along with the springs at
Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.
in the
Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...
. The geothermal potential of the UK was investigated by a program funded by the UK government and the European Commission that ran from 1977 until 1994, and saw a Hot Dry Rock experiment drilled in Carnmenellis granite of Cornwall. The project, which was never intended to produce electricity, was a rock mechanics experiment to research the hydraulic stimulation of fracture networks at temperatures below . Three wells were drilled to a total vertical depth of where the bottom-hole temperature was around 100°C. In 1994, the Hot Dry Rock project was closed, and research effort was transferred to the European Geothermal Project at
Soultz-sous-Forêts Soultz-sous-Forêts () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the site of the European Hot Dry Rocks energy research project. Notable people * George Abert, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly ...
. Geothermal energy development in the UK has been limited, partly due to the lack of high
enthalpy Enthalpy , a property of a thermodynamic system, is the sum of the system's internal energy and the product of its pressure and volume. It is a state function used in many measurements in chemical, biological, and physical systems at a constant ...
resources, but also due to the availability of cheap fossil fuels. However, when comparisons are made to countries in a similar tectonic setting, it is clear that the UK is underutilising this potential resource. The lack of geothermal development has largely been a result of the availability of North Sea natural gas during the 1980s and 1990s. Interest in the geothermal energy resources of the UK rose again in the 2000s, as a potential way of addressing some of the UK's "energy gap"


Solar (shallow geothermal) energy

There is what may be mistakenly known as geothermal energy at shallow depths but it is technically solar energy; the upper of ground is heated by solar radiation and not (except in rare exceptions) geothermal energy. This acts a heat store and can be exploited in a number of different ways. This heat can be utilised by
ground source heat pumps A ground source heat pump (also geothermal heat pump) is a heating/cooling system for buildings that uses a type of heat pump to transfer heat to or from the ground, taking advantage of the relative constancy of temperatures of the earth through ...
that can substantially reduce heating bills and reduce the associated carbon footprint. The heat from the sun is conducted downwards into the ground. At a depth of about 15m, ground temperatures are not influenced by seasonal air temperature changes and tend to remain stable all year around at about the mean annual air temperature ( in the UK). Hence, the ground at this depth is cooler than the air in summer and warmer than the air in winter. This temperature difference is exploited by ground source heat pumps that are used for heating and/or cooling of homes and office buildings.


Aquifer-based schemes

Groundwater in Permo-Triassic sandstones in the UK has the potential to provide an exploitable geothermal resource at depths of between . Since 1979 the basins of principal interest are East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Wessex, Worcester, Cheshire, West Lancashire, Carlisle, and basins in Northern Ireland. In addition, some of these basins are in areas of elevated heat flow, or are overlain by less thermally conductive strata, providing in effect an insulating layer. The following table lists the primary UK Geothermal aquifer resources for areas where the temperature is greater than 40 Â°C and the transmissivity is greater than 10 Dm, except as indicated:


Southampton District Heating Scheme

In the 1980s, the United Kingdom Department of Energy undertook a research and development programme to examine the potential of geothermal aquifers in the UK. However, after some initial success drilling a well in the Wessex Basin in 1981, it was deemed too small to be commercially viable. The project was abandoned by the Department of Energy, but
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
City Council refused to let the project fall and took the decision to create the UK's first
geothermal power Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...
scheme. This was undertaken as part of a plan to become a 'self sustaining city' in
energy generation In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external electrical circuit, circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include s ...
, promoted by then leader of the city council Alan Whitehead. The scheme was eventually developed in conjunction with French-owned company COFELY District Energy and the
Southampton Geothermal Heating Company Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Por ...
was then established.
Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
started in 1987 on a
well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
to draw
water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
from the
Wessex Basin The Wessex Basin is a petroleum-bearing geological area located along the southern coast of England and extending into the English Channel. The onshore part of the basin covers approximately 20,000 km2 and the area that encompasses the Englis ...
aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
at a depth of and a
temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
of . The scheme now heats a number of
building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...
s in the
city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
, including the
Southampton Civic Centre The Civic Centre is a municipal building located in the Cultural Quarter area within the city of Southampton, England. It comprises offices occupied by Southampton City Council, the SeaCity Museum, the Guildhall, the Southampton City Art Galler ...
, the
WestQuay Westquay (formerly WestQuay) is a shopping centre in Southampton, England. It has an area of of retail and leisure space and contains around 130 shops, including major retailers such as John Lewis and Partners, Marks and Spencer, Zara, Schuh ...
shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...
,
Royal South Hants Hospital The Royal South Hants Hospital, known locally as "The RSH", is a community hospital in Southampton. It is managed by NHS Property Services. History The hospital was founded as a voluntary hospital in 1835 and moved into its first premises in ...
,
Solent University Solent University (formerly Southampton Solent University) is a public university based in Southampton, United Kingdom. It has approximately 10,500 students (2019/20). Its main campus is located on East Park Terrace near the city centre and th ...
and the Carnival offices; and is part of an enlarged city centre
district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...
system that includes other combined heating, cooling and power sources. As of 2011 the district heating and cooling scheme provides annually 26°CGWh of electricity and over 40°CGWh of heat. Brine from the geothermal well provided 18% of the total district heating mix, with fuel oil (10%) and natural gas (70%) making up the rest. The electricity generated from the scheme is used by Associated British Ports via a private electrical connection to the
Port of Southampton The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. The port has been owned and op ...
, with any surplus electricity sold back to the
grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News g ...
.


Stoke-on-Trent

In 2014,
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
City Council announced plans for a £52million project to create a district heating network powered by geothermal energy. This will provide heating, in the form of hot water, to local customers. Work started in 2017 and the first customers will be connected in early 2019.


Other

Another area with great potential for geothermal energy is in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
, on the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
where the
Earth's crust Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...
is thin (less than ). The
offshore platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
s extract
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...
s from this region, but each year the output falls by 5% and soon it will be uneconomic to continue using these platforms for
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
extraction. An alternate use could be geothermal power generation. A 1986 work on this was undertaken by Total Energy Conservation and Management Co. Ltd. An overview document was produced called "Single Borehole Geothermal Energy Extraction System for Electrical Power Generation".


Hot rock schemes

The average geothermal gradient in the UK is per kilometre ( per mile) depth. There is no deep geothermal power generation in the UK. The granite regions of South West England, the Lake District and Weardale and the Eastern Highlands of Scotland are considered most likely to have the best prospects for power generation. In addition to using geothermally heated aquifers, Hot-Dry-Rock geothermal technology can be used to heat water pumped below ground onto geothermally heated rock. Starting in 1977, trials of the technology were undertaken at
Rosemanowes Quarry Rosemanowes Quarry, near Penryn, Cornwall, England, was a granite quarry and the site of an early experiment in extracting geothermal energy from the earth using hot dry rock (HDR) technology. Quarry In the nineteenth century the quarry prov ...
, near Penryn,
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. Heat-only projects are generally considered to have the greatest potential in the UK because the resource is more widespread and shallower. This includes the hot aquifers (i.e. subterranean bodies of water) in the North East, Wessex, Cheshire, and Northern Ireland. The UK's only existing geothermal heat-generating station (heat only) is at Southampton, where an borehole taps into the edge of the aquifer under Wessex and provides heat to the
Southampton District Energy Scheme The Southampton District Energy Scheme is a district heating and district cooling, cooling system in Southampton, United Kingdom. The system is owned and operated by ENGIE. History In the 1980s the Department of Energy (United Kingdom), Departmen ...
. The borehole is being refurbished. In 2008, a planning application was submitted for a hot rocks project on the site of a former
cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
works at Eastgate, near Stanhope in
County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
. The geothermal plant will heat the Eastgate Renewable Energy Village, the UK's first geothermal energy
model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...
. However this was shelved in 2010. In 2010 planning permission for a commercial-scale geothermal power plant was granted by
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition o ...
. The plant will be constructed on the
United Downs United Downs is a hamlet in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall, England, UK. The hamlet is the site of the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, using heat from the earth to power up to 10,000 homes. There is an Industrial Park and Stock car r ...
industrial estate near
Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...
by Geothermal Engineering. The plant will produce 3MW of renewable electricity. Drilling commenced at the site in November 2018. In December 2010, the Eden Project in Cornwall was given permission to build a Hot Rock Geothermal Plant. Drilling was planned to start in 2011, but as of May 2018, funding is still being sought. The plant will be on the north side of the Eden Project, a showcase for environmental projects at Bodelva, near St Austell. It should produce 3-4MW of electricity for use by Eden with a surplus, enough for about 3,500 houses, going into the National Grid.


Deep geothermal energy in the UK

The Deep Geothermal Challenge Fund of the
Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...
has provided more than £4.5million in grants to support the following projects: Power projects *
United Downs United Downs is a hamlet in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall, England, UK. The hamlet is the site of the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, using heat from the earth to power up to 10,000 homes. There is an Industrial Park and Stock car r ...
near Redruth, Cornwall – £1.475million in 2009 *Eden Project near St Austell, Cornwall – £2.011million in 2009 Heat-only projects * Southampton City Centre – £200,000 in 2010. * Eastgate in Weardale, County Durham – £461,000 in 2009 * Science Central site, Newcastle City Centre – £400,000 in 2010


United Downs

In early 2013, the government pulled a multimillion-pound grant from Geothermal Engineering Ltd for the £50million
United Downs Deep Geothermal Power United Downs Deep Geothermal Power is the first geothermal electricity project in the UK. It is the natural progression of the Camborne School of Mines led Cornish Hot Dry Rocks (HDR) project, undertaken in the 1980s at Rosemanowes Quarry, design ...
project, after the company failed to secure the necessary additional investment to meet the terms of the grant. By 2016, the company had managed to secure £30million funding for the project from a combination of the
European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...
,
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition o ...
and private investors, thus financing the UK's first commercial hot rocks power scheme. In 2019, the company had finished drilling the two geothermal wells; the production well to a depth of and the injection well to . The hot water reaches , and can yield around 60MW of heat and 10MW electrical energy. In 2021, the power plant is expected to be commissioned.


Newcastle University

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
Science Central Borehole Project, at is the deepest geothermal well drilled for nearly 30years. built on the former Tyne Brewery in the city. The temperature profile of per 100m is higher than that found in Weardale. The project failed as flow rates of hot water from the borehole were not great enough to be exploitable, leaving the development to be heated by conventional sources.


Potential

A report for the
Renewable Energy Association The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, previously known as Renewable Energy Association (REA), is a renewable energy and clean technology trade association in the UK encompassing all of renewables industry in the United K ...
prepared by the engineering consultants
Sinclair Knight Merz Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was a private Australian company operating across Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company had global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. Jacobs Engi ...
in 2012 identified the following key findings: *The resource is widely spread around the UK with 'hotspots' in Cornwall, Weardale, Lake District, East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Worcester, Dorset, Hampshire, Northern Ireland and Scotland; *Cost reduction potential is exceptionally high; *Deep geothermal resources could provide 9.5GW of baseload renewable electricity – equivalent to nearly nine nuclear power stations – which could generate 20% of the UK's current annual electricity consumption; *Deep geothermal resources could provide over 100GW of heat, which could supply sufficient heat to meet the space heating demand in the UK; *Despite this significant potential, the UK support regime is uncompetitive with other European countries.


Memorandum of understanding with the Icelandic Government

On 30 May 2012, the UK government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Icelandic government on a number of energy issues, including supporting the development of deep geothermal energy in the UK. *To exchange information on the development of the deep geothermal sector in the UK, including in the supply of heat to district heating networks; *To explore the possibility of developing electricity interconnection between Iceland and the UK, including relevant legal and regulatory issues;


See also

*
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom Energy in the United Kingdom came mostly from fossil fuels in 2021. Total World energy supply and consumption, energy consumption in the United Kingdom was 142.0millionTonne of oil equivalent, tonnes of oil equivalent (1,651TWh) in 2019. In 20 ...
*
Ground source heat pumps A ground source heat pump (also geothermal heat pump) is a heating/cooling system for buildings that uses a type of heat pump to transfer heat to or from the ground, taking advantage of the relative constancy of temperatures of the earth through ...
* Earth warming tubes *
Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
*
The Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...
*
Geothermal (geology) Geothermal gradient is the rate of temperature change with respect to increasing depth in Earth's interior. As a general rule, the crust temperature rises with depth due to the heat flow from the much hotter mantle; away from tectonic plate bo ...
*
Renewable energy in the United Kingdom Renewable energy in the United Kingdom contributes to production for electricity, heat, and transport. From the mid-1990s, renewable energy began to play a part in the UK's electricity generation, building on a small hydroelectric capacity. ...
*
Wind power in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom is the best location for wind power in Europe and one of the best in the world. By 2022, the UK had over 11 thousand wind turbines with a total installed capacity of over 25gigawatts (GW): 14 GW onshore and 11 GW offshore, t ...
*
Solar power in the United Kingdom Solar power represented a very small part of electricity production in the United Kingdom until the 2010s when it increased rapidly, thanks to feed-in tariff (FIT) subsidies and the falling cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels. , installed capacit ...
*
Hydroelectricity in the United Kingdom , hydroelectric power stations in the United Kingdom accounted for 1.87GW of installed electrical generating capacity, being 2.2% of the UK's total generating capacity and 4.2% of UK's renewable energy generating capacity. This includes four co ...
*
List of renewable energy topics by country This is a list of renewable energy topics by country and territory. These links can be used to compare developments in renewable energy in different countries and territories and to help and encourage new writers to participate in writing about ...


References


External links


The Geological Society: Low enthalpy geothermal options for the UK

The Geological Society: Map of geothermal potential in England and WalesGeothermal Power Generation in the UK
* ttp://iahs.info/redbooks/a154/iahs_154_04_0012.pdf EVALUATION OF THE PERMO-TRIASSIC SANDSTONES OF THE UK AS GEOTHERMAL AQUIFERSbr> Deep Geothermal Energy and Groundwater in the UK, Jon Busby BGSGeothermal Prospects in the United Kingdom, Jon Busby BGSGeothermal Energy District heating scheme Southampton, Energie-Cités in collaboration with the City of SouthamptonSouthampton City Council Geothermal and CHP schemePOSTbrief 46 Geothermal energy UK Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geothermal Power In The United Kingdom