Geothermal Energy

Cornwall’s geology and mining history make it an ideal location for deep geothermal energy, resulting in the county being a world leader of the technology. Across the South West of England, approx 20 sites have been identified as suitable deep geothermal power, with a large proportion of these sites being found in Cornwall.

As such, Cornwall is the first county in the UK to approve planning permission for deep geothermal plants, and is set to be the first ever county to install a commercial scale geothermal electricity plant.

Two planning permissions have been granted for two large-scale power plants:

• Geothermal Engineering Ltd in partnership with Cornish consultancy GeoScience, are constructing a £40m power plant near Redruth in the heart of the county. The plant will supply 10MW of base load electricity to the National Grid and up to 55MW of renewable heat for local use.
• EGS Energy’s pioneering geothermal plant located near the Eden Project, aims to power the Project's site, using Cornish ‘hot rock’ technology.

Homes and schools across Cornwall are also benefiting from geothermal energy and ground source heat pumps, allowing them to generate renewable energy from their own premises. The introduction of the UK government’s Renewable Heat Incentive – the world’s first scheme to offer cash incentives for generation of heat from renewable sources – from April 2011 is set to increase the demand for such technology, and so increase opportunities for businesses.

It is also worth noting that Cornwall has a huge skill advantage in this field due to its extensive mining legacy as well as being home to one of the world's foremost centres of earth science: the Camborne School of Mines (part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall).