This week, a geothermal power plant began supplying energy to the Eden Project. Gwennap are a stark reminder of the area's key role in Cornwall's long-gone mining boom.
During the Industrial Revolution, the area's massive production of copper and tin mines, near Redruth, helped establish a reputation as «the richest square mile on earth.”
Today, companies are digging deeper in search of another treasure: energy.
In the United Downs, a stone's throw from many old mines, Geothermal Engineering is on a pioneering project to extract heat from granite rocks more than three miles deep.
This is achieved through pumping. the water is heated up to 200 degrees Celsius to power the heat exchanger and then pumped back to a shallower well again.
Starting next year, the scheme will provide heat and power to 3,800 homes near Truro, as well as the Royal Cornish Hospital, local schools and a leisure centre, after receiving £22 million in government funding.
Ryan Lowe, Executive Director Geothermal Engineering believes this could serve as a model for similar schemes across the UK as policy makers explore how this technology can play a role in the race for zero emissions.
This is because that this week another geothermal power plant began generating power for the Eden Project near St. Blazey, about 20 miles from the United Downs.
“Geothermal energy has become a really hot topic in the last two years,” Lo says. «We chose Cornwall because it's the hottest spot in the UK and the United Downs is kind of a trailblazer.»
How geothermal works
While it can be used to generate electricity, such as wind and solar farms, Lo believes geothermal energy's real promise lies in heating buildings, providing a viable replacement for gas-fired boilers. Around one-fifth of the UK's carbon emissions come from keeping buildings warm, and carbon-free solutions such as electric heat pumps are currently too expensive for many households.
The rock near Cornwall is hot because it contains little radioactive elements uranium, potassium and thorium, Luo explains, which create «quite a lot of heat» over a large area.
This means that it can be available all year round, except for the short periods needed to service the power plant.
“It's just a huge resource,” Lo adds. “It's like getting buckets out of the ocean. I wouldn't say it's infinite, but it's huge.
«And unlike wind and sun, it just keeps running after you turn it on.»
However he argues that geothermal energy will not compete directly with these renewables «because it's a different kind of energy.»
“Wind and solar power are pretty good for large-scale power generation, but where geothermal power fits in in combination with such an elephant in the room is how we will achieve our zero-carbon heating goals.
“I I see that these projects are being installed in areas that need electricity and heat, for example, in large areas of urban areas. because this combination could result in geothermal energy having a big impact on the UK.”
The company already has two other projects in Penhallow and Manhay that have received building permits. They will be even bigger as Geothermal Engineering seeks to win support for these schemes through government contracts at an auction for difference this summer.
The company is demanding about £119 per megawatt-hour of electricity generated, although Lo says he believes the price of future plants could end up being two-thirds lower than other projects operating in the US today.
He also believes that the cost of drilling two wells at the United Downs — around £24m — could be halved.
The possibility of this will ultimately depend on UK geothermal demand and supply chains. that grow to serve him.
Drill Sites
Currently, less than 1% of the country's energy is generated by geothermal schemes.
But the technology has been pioneered and proven effective elsewhere, including in Iceland, the US, Italy, France and Germany.
In Iceland, 30 percent of electricity is currently generated from geothermal sources. The resulting energy is so cheap that it is used to heat banana greenhouses domestically, and the cold country has become a magnet for energy-intensive aluminum producers.
Munich also makes extensive use of geothermal energy. Regional energy company Stadtwerke Munich (SWM) currently operates six geothermal power plants in and around the German city, providing heat and electricity to hundreds of thousands of residents and facilities.
The law claims that the example of Munich is proof that the technology can be deployed in densely populated areas with relatively little disruption, despite the need for drilling rigs to drill wells initially.
In the UK, the most promising areas for development after Cornwall are parts of the North West such as Manchester and parts of Yorkshire including Hull.
In the coming weeks, the UK government is preparing to release a white paper outlining the potential of geothermal energy and better features.
Geothermal energy has been very successful in countries such as Iceland, where 30 percent of electricity is currently generated from geothermal sources. Credit: LANDSVIRKJUN/AFP via Getty Images
However, according to a report by the Library of the House of Commons, there is currently no dedicated geothermal regulatory regime in the UK, and delays in planning and connecting to the grid are causing problems.
For example, the Eden Project scheme could potentially export some power to the grid, but we were told it could not be connected until at least 2036.
“We would like to turn it into electricity. But it's a nightmare,» Gus Grand, head of Eden Geothermal, told the Financial Times in an interview.
The Geothermal Engineering Act says a key test for the industry will be whether his company's projects — and others — win funding at the state energy auction this summer. A certain amount of money has been earmarked for «technology development».
This will underpin «significant further investment» from private sources, he said.
Another new application of geothermal technology being developed by his company and others, including Cornish Lithium, is the extraction of underground minerals using liquid solutions. This allows resources such as lithium, a key material used to make batteries, to be recovered with minimal environmental disruption and zero carbon emissions.
At the same time, as in Iceland, the technology could open up new frontiers for British agriculture. Greenhouse electricity will allow British farmers to grow produce from hotter countries without incurring costly electricity costs.
“We are now at a tipping point,” Lo says. «I really think we're at the tip of the iceberg and it's just a matter of maturity.
«If you remember offshore wind, people said it would never work because it's too expensive
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«Now look at this».
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