Eden Project Geothermal Power Plant
Eden Project Geothermal Power Plant
Read about plans for the UK's first geothermal power plant, to be built in Cornwall at the Eden Project
geothermal | newsPlans have been revealed for what will be the first
geothermal power plant to be built in the UK. In a joint partnership between
EGS Energy - a geothermal power company - and the
Eden Project in Cornwall, a
3MW geothermal power plant will be constructed. It is designed to supply all of the power requirements of the Eden Project with any spare capacity fed into the National Grid. It will also provide
carbon neutral heating, potentially enabling the Eden Project to grow more fruits and vegetables out of season, and also more exotic crops.
Approximately 2-3 miles below the ground in Cornwall lie
granite outcrops heated to high temperatures by
geothermal energy. It is planned that two 2.5 mile deep boreholes will be drilled in a disused clay quarry on Eden Project land. Water will be pumped down to a reservoir on the porous
hot rocks where its temperature will reach over 150 degrees Celcius. The superheated water will then be pumped back up to steam turbines at ground level where electricity will be generated, and the remaining heat in the water (via a
heat exchanger) used to heat up local buildings. The completed power plant will be a
closed loop (since the steam created is condensed back to water and pumped back down to the undergound reservoir) and so the environmenal impact on the surrounding area will be minimal. Also the
footprint of the plant buildings on the surface will be very small.
The total cost of the the power plant is projected to be
£15 million. When the plant is completed in
2012 it will generate sufficient electricity to power nearly
5,000 homes. The Eden Project will need only 20-25% of the generated electricity, and so the rest will be exported to the National Grid raising revenue and reducing
carbon emissions. Unlike
wind turbines and
solar panels, a geothermal system such as this can run
24 hours per day every day. A similar commercial plant has been built in the German town of Landau and successfully generates up to 3.8MW of electricity.
It is hoped that over
10% of homes in the UK could eventually be powered by geothermal power plants of this type greatly reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Useful Resources
EGS Energy Ltd - official website of EGS Energy, specialists in deep geothermal energy.
Eden Project - official website of the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK.
Article Last Modified: 09:47, 2nd Jun 2009Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
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