The UK’s first ever geothermal power plant located in Cornwall has just signed on a 10-year deal which will supply 10,000 local homes with their electricity.
This geothermal plant produces power by combining water in two wells. One of these wells has a depth of three miles and passes through the Porthowan fault zone wherein red, hot water and granite rocks are found.
Back in 2010, the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power Project was funded with a combination on private and public support. In less than a year from now, it is set to be fully operational. The first renewable energy company in the world, Ecotricity has already signed a deal with them to buy three megawatts of geothermal power to supply the surrounding areas.
The founder of Ecotricity, Dale Vince said that:
“Geothermal is a really exciting form of energy that is currently untapped in the UK. We’re pleased to be part of this project and to add the power to our customer’s energy mix. It has a big role to play in our plans to decarbonize the country.”
The owner of a local rum distillery is also preparing a £10 million ($14 million) contract to buy power in order to mature almost half a million liters of their product by means of using a geo-heated/powered biome.
The question is, why would anyone go through the hassle of digging a three-mile deep hole when wind turbine and solar panel technologies are already easily available for a cheaper price? The reasoning behind this question is because geothermal energy runs 24/7 without relying on the weather and its unpredictable changes. While Cornwall is known to have a lot of wind, the sun in this area is never constant.
The owners of the United Downs plant, Geothermal Engineering Limited came out on a Sunday Times feature on construction, saying that although this new form of energy is quite exciting, the plant and possible geothermal developments are still in its early stages.
The managing director, Ryan Law spoke to the Times of London and said:
“There’s a huge amount of energy below the surface of the Earth. The limiting factors are the drilling costs and the connections to National Grid on the surface.”
Apart from that, Ecotricity still has a growth prediction in the geothermal capacity of the country, suggesting that almost 10% of geothermal energy in the national power supply should be looked at because it is possible.
Other areas should also be looked at, aside from Cornwall. There are possibilities of new sites in the northeast of England or the South Downs in Hampshire.
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