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The UK’s first heat network using a geothermal source is to be built at the Langarth Garden Village near Truro, thanks to over £22 million ($28 million) awarded by the government.
Hot granite rocks beneath Cornwall will for the first time be used to supply clean energy for local homes and facilities.
The ground-breaking project, run by Cornwall Council, will provide power and heat for 3,800 homes in the village – as well as the Royal Cornwall Hospital, local schools and a leisure centre.
Langarth Heat District Network is one of seven projects across England to be awarded a total of £91 million ($114 million) from the government, in its biggest drive yet to fund cleaner ways to heat and power buildings.
The move is expected to boost the UK’s energy security and independence, while delivering on the government’s commitment to grow the economy.
The allocations form part of a £288 million ($361 million) government package that will roll out new heat networks across the country and provide a cut to carbon emissions equivalent to taking 5.6 million cars off the road for a year.
Cornwall’s new heat network is set to be ready by 2026, drilling to a depth of 5,275 meters to extract heat from the granite beneath the United Downs Industrial Site.
Ryan Law, CEO of Geothermal Engineering Limited, said: “We use almost 50% of all energy in the UK for heating, yet most of this is currently gas. The potential of geothermal resources to produce renewable heat from our natural resources will play a large part of decarbonising this form of energy over the next decade. The great thing about a deep geothermal plant is that the heat will always benefit the immediate area surrounding it as it cannot be exported to a ‘grid’. Langarth will be an excellent example of a local community directly benefiting from having a geothermal initiative nearby.”
The funding, announced by the government will pave the way for low-carbon technologies – like heat pumps, solar and geothermal energy – to be delivered at scale and established as a central source of energy in this country.
The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) opened in March 2022 to public, private and third sector applicants in England and is anticipated to run to 2025. It replaced the Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) scheme which closed for applications in January 2022.
