The site of Europe’s first hot rocks project has been put up for sale.
Rosemanowes Quarry, near Penryn, is well known in world science and engineering circles for being Europe’s first deep geothermal project from the 1970s to 1991.
At the time the project, to investigate new source of energy from heat in rocks three kilometres under Cornwall, was a ground breaking piece of engineering, and today technical expertise developed at Rosemanowes has led directly to the construction of geothermal power plants from the US to Asia.
In 1983 the ‘New Scientist’ magazine reported “coach loads of excited school children and a constant stream of tourists from all over the world visiting the site to view Britain’s most ambitious project to tap the Earth’s geothermal Heat”.
Now the owner of the quarry has decided to put it on the market with Miller Commercial, which has already received enquiries from Saudi Arabian oil companies and off shore drilling firms.
Partner at Miller Commercial, Peter Heather, said: “This is an exciting and interesting instruction for our firm. I remember visiting Rosemanowes Quarry as a boy and being fascinated at the work going on there.
“Without getting too technical, with seven holes at a depth of nearly three kilometres, Rosemanowes has the deepest bore holes in the UK. This makes the site a perfect environment for companies involved in down-hole drilling engineering and testing of specialist tools for this purpose.
“Interestingly, the geographical features of the quarry, its size, secluded location and accessibility also lend themselves to green energy projects such as solar or wind farms. Therefore we are marketing the site to a broad range of industries from those involved in the cutting edge of borehole tool development to local haulier and waste management companies.”
The site is available with offers being sought in excess of £750k.
