The United Downs power plant, located in Truro, Cornwall, is the first of its kind in the UK, using the Earth’s heat to create electricity
This morning, the first UK geothermal power plant was switched on.
Utilising the deepest on-shore well drilled in the UK, the plant can create enough energy to power 10,000 homes.
Over a decade of development
The developing company, Geothermal Engineering Ltd, has worked for 15 years to drill the hole and create the infrastructure for the plant to operate. Water hits super-heated rocks, creating high-pressure steam that drives the turbines, creating electricity.
The mining operation has also provided the UK’s first own supply of lithium.
The hole driving this plant is three miles below the surface, where temperatures reach nearly 200C, heating the water to 190C before being pumped back up to the surface.
Ryan Law, CEO of GEL, said: “I’m tremendously excited after 15 years of hard graft, difficulties, we’re finally there.
“And unlike other renewable sources like wind and solar we are constantly on, 24/7 electricity.”
Anne Murrell, head of Geothermal UK, said: “We have a great energy resource, underneath our feet in the UK, but we’re not maximising its potential.
“The challenges we have include investment, and to unlock investment and increase investor confidence, we need a supportive government policy framework – geothermal needs to be recognised by government as a key part of our energy strategy.”
Local Plans must shift to support energy developments
Earlier this month, Lichfields published a response to the draft National Planning Policy Framework in which they set out an approach to plan-making that improves the alignment between planning, grid capacity, and delivery timescales.
Lichfields’ suggested approach is being termed an Integrated Energy Allocation model, under which Local Plans would assess specific energy sites through a targeted call for sites submission exercise rather than relying on broad areas of search. Sites would be put forward accompanied by proportionate, parameters-based evidence, allowing physical scale and environmental effects to be examined in the Plan-making process without fixing detailed layouts or technology at that early stage.
Where accepted through Local Plan examination, sites would be allocated for energy infrastructure and safeguarded from incompatible development. Detailed specification would be approved later, closer to construction, reflecting grid connection timing and technological change. The approach would sit alongside continued policy support for energy proposals on non-allocated sites where capacity becomes available.
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