How big a role can geothermal energy generation play in the UK's green transition?
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@pbloem @ChrisMayLA6 the numbers change the deeper you can get but agreed - without a lot of fancy new technology it's just a useful sideline
@etchedpixels @pbloem @ChrisMayLA6 The fancy new technologies are being worked on and are starting to deliver. eg: Fervo Energy is drilling wells down to 5000m and 250C and has working power plants. Those depths open up huge areas for exploitation with minimal surface foot prints. You can even use such wells to store excess renewable energy by shutting off the generator but driving the return pumps to pressurise the wells.
Fervo Energy Drills 15,000-FT, 500°F Geothermal Well Pushing The Envelope For EGS Deployment - Fervo Energy
HOUSTON, TX (June 10, 2025) – Fervo Energy today announced the successful drilling and logging of its Sugarloaf appraisal well, an operational achievement
Fervo Energy (fervoenergy.com)
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But I guess the one good thing is it doesn't vary so could help (albeit only a little) deal with troughs in other renewables?
@ChrisMayLA6 @pbloem Un-correlated (including always-on) low-carbon electricity sources are good. Demand-callable / load-following is better, but there are far fewer of those (no GB nukes for example).
(This is 3MW out of ~40GW yesterday's GB peak demand, and there seems to be scope for ~2 more of these cf *20,000* needed to cover *current* peak winter demand in the UK.)
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@ChrisMayLA6 Germany operates geothermic plants since the 80s, mostly for heating.
But we also have quite a few which also produce electricity in range of ~5-10MW.The positive is that there will be almost no waste. I'd expect some because they also want to use the water to extract Lithium. But that's nothing compared to a nuclear power plant.
@Brokar @ChrisMayLA6 I've been following Quaise energy with the new drilling tech: https://www.quaise.com/
I really like the idea of converting fossil fuel plants into geothermal.
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@ChrisMayLA6 David MacKay discusses this in Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air, and it's pretty disappointing (for fundamental rather than technical reasons). The UK can get at most 1.6% of its energy budget from geothermal.
If you divide the amount of heat the earth dissipates by the number of people, the resulting number is simply pretty low.
It works for places like Iceland, because a large area's worth of heat comes out at one point where the population is low.
@pbloem @ChrisMayLA6 There’’s an experimental plant in Glasgow and Southampton used to use geothermal at much lower temperatures for electricity generator steam system.
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@ChrisMayLA6 David MacKay discusses this in Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air, and it's pretty disappointing (for fundamental rather than technical reasons). The UK can get at most 1.6% of its energy budget from geothermal.
If you divide the amount of heat the earth dissipates by the number of people, the resulting number is simply pretty low.
It works for places like Iceland, because a large area's worth of heat comes out at one point where the population is low.
@pbloem @ChrisMayLA6 need a cable to Iceland
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@ChrisMayLA6 David MacKay discusses this in Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air, and it's pretty disappointing (for fundamental rather than technical reasons). The UK can get at most 1.6% of its energy budget from geothermal.
If you divide the amount of heat the earth dissipates by the number of people, the resulting number is simply pretty low.
It works for places like Iceland, because a large area's worth of heat comes out at one point where the population is low.
@pbloem @ChrisMayLA6 this is the case if you're trying to generate electricity from geothermal. But if you instead try to use it for space heating, then a lot more of the UK has geothermal availability. Big heat pumps fed into district heating systems would be a great way of using geothermal and improving the livability of UK homes. And about ~20% of emissions are from heating/cooling buildings.
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@Brokar @ChrisMayLA6 I've been following Quaise energy with the new drilling tech: https://www.quaise.com/
I really like the idea of converting fossil fuel plants into geothermal.
I'm in favor of companies who actually produce something. Not a fan of startups which promise you the world and only 1% of them actually succeed and deliver.
But i wish them all the luck, this is a promising project. And if they'd put all the AI money into projects of this kind instead, we'd all be living better.
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I'm in favor of companies who actually produce something. Not a fan of startups which promise you the world and only 1% of them actually succeed and deliver.
But i wish them all the luck, this is a promising project. And if they'd put all the AI money into projects of this kind instead, we'd all be living better.
But to be honest, i know that drilling down to 5km works, it's done today. Drilling down to 20km is a whole different league. I know of no commercial projects yet which drilled down that far.
My question would be "why not build 2 plants with only 10km depth?" Should be the same result and certainly much less difficult than 20km depth.Big ambitions are good but you should start with the middle way first, show that it works.
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@ChrisMayLA6 I've wondered how viable bore-hole ground-source heat pumps would be on a domestic scale.
GSHP are more efficient than air-source HP, but not every house has the required acreage of land attached to install a horizontal snake of shallow-buried pipes.That's an interesting Q. but might run up against the issue that the ground beneath us is owned by the state not us....
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@Brokar @ChrisMayLA6 I've been following Quaise energy with the new drilling tech: https://www.quaise.com/
I really like the idea of converting fossil fuel plants into geothermal.
@sealeucas @Brokar @ChrisMayLA6 Thanks for the link. Last night happened upon Cindy Taff'S TED talk on this technology. This is brilliant.
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How big a role can geothermal energy generation play in the UK's green transition?
Well, a new plant coming on line in Cornwall will test that proposition, as its major up-front investment starts to pay off in energy generation.
Of course, we're used to big up-front investment(s) in nuclear power, so it will be interesting to see how this project compares in cost recovery terms & longevity of production.
#geothermal #GreenTransition #energy #politics
Earth's heat to produce electricity for homes in UK clean energy first
Water super-heated by rocks will also provide the UK's first domestic supply of the critical mineral lithium.
BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)
@ChrisMayLA6 I think the main output of this project is the lithium that's dissolved in the water and that they will be selling to the battery industry. The power/heat is a bonus
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