Permission was given to Geothermal Engineering Ltd by the Cornwall Council, giving them the green light to drill the 4.5km well at the United Downs Industrial Estate in a bid to provide renewable heat and renewable electricity. The company was awarded £1.475m from the Department of Energy and Climate Change in December last year and must raise finance to meet the £40m development cost.

The plant is expected to be fully online by 2013 with work to drill down to access rocks at a temperature of approximately 200 degrees beginning in early 2011. The scheme could provide enough heat per year for the equivalent of 20 schools and enough electricity for 20,000 homes.

Ryan Law, Managing Director of Geothermal Engineering Ltd, a British company, says: “With the development of our plant we want to make deep geothermal energy a significant contributor to the UK’s energy portfolio. Not only can we contribute renewable, continuous power to the grid, we also want to change the way the UK meets its heat demands by offering energy-efficient, decentralised heat.

He added the scheme could also have benefits developing the UK’s geothermal expertise and skills allowing us to compete and will attract foreign businesses that are able to use the renewable heat. 

Most suitable sites for geothermal power in the UK are to be found in Cornwall. Extensive research was done in the 1970s and 80s through the ‘hot rocks project’ which found opportunities with the country’s granite bedrock.