Thrive Renewables, a fund that provides community-accessible investments in local energy projects, has delivered steam in a test of the UK's first deep geothermal power project, United Downs.
The milestone puts the Cornwall-based United Downs project on track to start delivering electricity by the latter half of 2022, according to Thrive Renewables’ 1 July statement
While electricity produced by the project will be sold to National Grid, the heat generated by the project will be for the exclusive use of the local community. Geothermal heat energy must be used close to its source, so plants like these have the potential for delivering zero-carbon local heat networks for residents, said Thrive Renewables.
The Cornwall Geothermal Distillery Company is in the approval process to use 2.5 MW of the hot water the plant is expected to produce.
More heat will go to a proposed new housing development of 3,800 homes and commercial buildings in Cornwall's Langarth Garden Village.
Matthew Clayton, managing director of Thrive Renewables noted that the UK produces increasing amounts of variable renewable energy like wind and solar power, more geothermal power plants could provide a clean baseload power. Currently, this is baseload power is provided by fossil-fuel plants, particularly those using natural gas in the UK.
Meeting this demand, Thrive said it has four additional sites which our experienced team is ready to start work on.
Thrive Renewables is financing the project alongside Cornwall Council and the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, and with the help of geothermal Developer and Operator Geothermal Engineering Ltd. The project is also part-funded by the UK government's Heat Network Delivery Unit (HNDU).
According to a news report by Positive News on 1 June, the United Downs project in Cornwall, now at its final testing stage, is seen to produce 3 MW of constant electricity that can power around 7,000 homes, as well as providing 12 MW of heat.
A deep geothermal project is constructed 5,000 metres off the earth's surface, unlike a shallow geothermal project that can go down no more than 150 m. The production well of the United Downs site was said to be 5,275 metres deep.
Geothermal power is generated through the conversion of hot water pumped from the depths of the earth with temperatures reaching as high as 187 Celcius. This cycle repeats after the water is sent back underground.
The report noted that the United Downs site was strategically positioned to intercept the Porthtowan Fault Zone, approximately 800 m to the west of the site, where water can easily trickle down and return below the plant's production well.
More than a decade since its inception, the Cornwall geothermal project has kicked off after its developer secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the Cornwall Council and the Bristol-based energy investment firm Thrive Renewables.
Ecotricity, a green energy company based in England, secured a PPA last year to distribute electricity from the geothermal plant once it goes live.
Besides electricity, the heat from the geothermal site could be sold for industrial processes or agriculture and geothermal fluids could be utilised for mineral extraction.
A £5 million research centre will also use the heat and electricity from the power plant to attain carbon-neutral distilling of rum. Its owners recently secured planning permission from the Cornwall Council to build the centre next to the geothermal site.
Aside from the United Downs project, 12 more geothermal plants across the UK were projected to go online by 2025, the report noted.
