EGS Energy has been awarded a £2 million grant from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to develop plans for its ‘hot rocks’ power plant at the Eden Project.
Penzance-based EGS Energy announced last June its partnership with Eden to establish an engineered geothermal system power plant from which Eden can take the electricity and heat to its site at Bodelva, near St Austell.
Guy Macpherson-Grant, Managing Director of EGS Energy Limited, added: “This is a very positive step forward for EGS Energy. We are pleased to have received such a substantial and practical vote of confidence from DECC with this award. We will be working hard in the coming months to repay that confidence in us, by taking forward with all speed the drilling programme and associated works, planning and environmental consents permitting.”
There is something of a race on in Cornwall to set up the UK’s first commercial hot rocks energy plant. Another company, Geothermal Engineering Ltd, has plans for a slightly larger facility just outside Redruth.
