Eden Project stokes up plans for UK's first geothermal plant

The Eden Project in Cornwall unveiled plans yesterday for the UK's first geothermal power plant, scheduled to come online in 2012.

Its planned plant, at an old clay quarry near St Austell, could provide heat and electricity for the tourist attraction's giant greenhouses and 5,000 local homes.

The company has signed a partnership with geothermal specialist EGS Energy Limited to build the plant and is now seeking planning permission for the facility.

Under the proposals, two boreholes would be drilled to reach "hot rocks" that lie between 3-4km below the surface. Water would then be circulated between the two wells before being pumped to the surface at temperatures of approximately 150ºC. The heated water would initially be used to power a 3MW turbine, providing power for the Eden site and other local buildings.

Further development would allow some of the water to provide heating for Eden and nearby villages.

The project promises to revitalise long-standing interest in Cornwall as a potential source of geothermal power. A series of research projects in the 1960s and 1970s suggested that the region had the potential to generate large amounts of power from hot rocks that are relatively near the surface.

According to EGS Energy Cornwall, the rocks could provide enough power to meet 10 per cent of the UK's energy requirements.

Roy Baria, technical director of EGS Energy Limited, who previously worked on the earlier Rosemanowes “Hot Rocks” project in Cornwall, said that the new project aimed to "take engineered geothermal systems to commercial reality from academic exercise".

"With the geology in the vicinity of the Eden Project being ideal for creating our power plant and its reservoir, we would not only expect to be able to supply virtually all of the Eden Project's power and heat requirements but also surplus power that could be fed into the grid to help meet the government's CO2 reduction and renewable generation targets," he added.

The announcement comes just weeks after Conservative leader David Cameron vowed to increase financial support for the fledgling UK geothermal industry, pledging to "provide generous incentives to give this new industry the shot in the arm it needs to get going".