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New Energy World™
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Cornish deep hot rock developments
19/7/2023
6 min read
Feature
Geothermal resources have the potential to produce renewable, constant (24/7) power and heat from natural resources and could play a pivotal role as the UK’s energy supply is decarbonised. Ryan Law, CEO of Geothermal Engineering, describes the company’s first Cornish developments.
Geothermal developments are associated with tectonically active regions where the Earth’s crust is thin and the surface heat flow is high. With current drilling techniques, only certain parts of the UK, mainly in Cornwall, are currently suitable for geothermal power extraction. However, as drilling and power plant technology becomes more specialised and efficient, new geothermal prospects at greater depths or lower temperatures have potential for commercial development.
Key benefits
There are numerous benefits to geothermal power production:
- Low carbon: Geothermal resources offer low-carbon, sustainable energy, generating less than 3% of the CO2/kWh compared to fossil fuel alternatives. This equates to a saving of more than 713,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per 5MWe power project.
- Small surface footprint: Geothermal power production has a very small surface footprint. It features the smallest surface footprint in terms of land use based on acres/1 GW of any onshore energy source.
- Baseload power with minimal waste: Geothermal also has minimal waste production, and can provide 24/7 baseload power, independent of weather or time-of-day factors, making it extremely reliable.
- Versatile heat energy: Geothermal energy can be used for heating or cooling. The efficiency of the various processes is dependent on the temperature, so one can determine the best use of a particular pocket of geothermal energy according to the temperature at which certain processes need to operate.
- Local community benefit: The heat energy from geothermal sources cannot be exported. So, this heat source will provide benefit to the local community through local heat networks directly into homes or businesses, or attract inward investment by companies or industries that need large amounts of cheap heat or cooling.
Geothermal resources offer low-carbon, sustainable energy, generating less than 3% of the CO2/kWh compared to fossil fuel alternatives.
Grid access
As with any renewable power source, a critical aspect for the successful rollout of geothermal power in the UK will be ensuring access to the National Grid. To be able to supply baseload renewable electricity to the National Grid, each geothermal power plant will need an access point nearby. Current limitations to the grid mean that there are many sites in Cornwall that would be suitable for the production of geothermal energy but are currently unsuitable for development because the power cannot be exported.