A new alliance of Cornish companies working within the geothermal energy sector has been formed.
The Southwest Geothermal Alliance has been established by EGS Energy, Geoscience, Carrak Consulting and Carbon Zero Consulting to encourage and support the development of geothermal heating projects across the south west.
Its aim is to increase the uptake of geothermal energy as a viable and affordable low carbon option to meet the heating needs for both domestic and commercial users.
Last year the UK became the first major economy to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming, setting a target of reducing our carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and last week the Prime Minister announced an ambitious new target to reduce emissions by at least 68% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
And one of the most important ways to meet this target is to decarbonise our heating. About half of the UK’s energy consumption is to provide heat and it is responsible for about a third of our greenhouse gas emissions.
A spokesperson for the new alliance said: “Geothermal energy is used successfully as a low carbon energy source around the world but its take up in the UK has been slow, partly because it is unfamiliar technology and there is a perception that we are not a geothermal country.
“But the UK does have geothermal resources and the south west peninsula is blessed with more than most. Not only does it have the lower temperature resources that exist almost everywhere, but it also has heat-producing rocks that make it possible to harness higher temperatures with quite shallow drilling.”
