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.
@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.
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.)
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Peter Bloem
Earth Notes