Final tests are underway as part of a task to breathe new life into North Yorkshire as a source of geothermal energy.
A former fracking site in the North Yorkshire village of Kirby Misperton, once a lightning rod for environmental protests, could soon set a new frontier in Britain’s blank energy revolution. For the first time in the UK, an abandoned fuel well could receive lifetime treatment as a source of geothermal energy.
It’s a far cry from its beginnings as a hotly contested site where fracking hoped to exploit new fuel deposits trapped in layers of shale beneath the earth’s surface. In 2016, Third Energy received permission to continue hydraulic fracturing on an existing well, but its plans were ultimately thwarted by a government moratorium on the use of generation in the UK.
The transformation is being led through CeraPhi Energy, made up of a team of former oil and fuel veterans who plan to use their expertise in fossil fuel extraction to harness the renewable energy potential beneath the Earth’s surface.
After 30 years in the fossil fuel sector, Karl Farrow founded the company in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The plan, he explained, is to bring together others with deep experience in the oil and fuel industry to unlock a new source of blank energy.
“The first thing we did when we got the keys to the doors was to invite the leaders of the local anti-fracking teams to see what we were doing for the site,” he said. “I think a lot of them see this task as a kind of fence. We’re doing something positive here. Therefore, all of their efforts to prevent hydraulic fracturing will now likely lead to blank energy.
For the company, it was a “natural transition” to repurpose its existing drilling expertise and infrastructure to take advantage of the renewable energy underneath. Drilling for fossil fuels and drilling for geothermal energy are “pretty much identical,” Farrow said. “The only difference is that you’re extracting a renewable energy source instead of a fossil fuel. “
Typically, harnessing geothermal energy involves drilling a well to depths of about two to three miles, to run cold, low-pressure water through the hot rocks beneath the Earth’s surface. A second well then brings the hot water back to the surface where it can be used to heat homes and businesses or to generate electricity.
Unlike hydraulic fracturing, there are very few environmental risks. The well is sealed and the water pipes work in a closed-loop system, there is no exposure to the basement. “Think about inserting a control tube into the sand. It creates an absolutely sealed atmosphere,” Farrow said.
The Kirby Misperton mission is in its final testing phase: so far, the effects have proven Farrow’s theories and technical calculations. In some cases, they were larger than expected. His team had predicted temperatures of 90 degrees Celsius at the base of the wells. Temperatures of 110 degrees were still recorded. Farrow hopes to share the findings with the community, local government and government bodies to make the case for Britain’s geothermal potential.
“In the coming months, we hope to begin turning the site and wells into genuine projects,” he said. Over time, Farrow hopes that the heat captured through geothermal wells will be used in local heating networks used to heat apartment buildings. , schools, hospitals, parks, or recreation centers.
“I think it’s the only direct competitor when it comes to oil heating,” Farrow said. “I think honestly, it may account for 15 to 20 percent of combined energy for heating in the future, if not more. “Big oil corporations have treated geothermal as “some kind of science project,” but Farrow believes the world is now headed toward a “geothermal decade. “
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CeraPhi has nine potential geothermal projects in the UK, but Farrow says the burgeoning industry still needs a push from the government to accelerate the speed with which it can play a role in decarbonising heating.
The UK’s first steps into geothermal energy come with an allocation in Seaham, County Durham, which will use mine pit water to heat 1,500 new homes, and an allocation from the Eden Project in Cornwall, which generates heat to heat the Eden inland rainforest and Mediterranean biomes. as well as offices, kitchens and greenhouses.
Geothermal energy offers a potential source of heating, but also a fortuitous economic boost for many regions that the government says need more new investment as part of its modernization plan.
Research by Durham University found that these include Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough, East Lindsey, Hartlepool, Northumberland and Bassetlaw, all of which are in the top 10 of the index used by the government to identify local authority spaces in need of improvement. Other sites well suited for geothermal heat and electric power generation are Newcastle upon Tyne, north-east Derthroughshire, Yorkshire’s East Riding and Nottingham.
In theory, the UK has enough geothermal energy locked underground to heat each and every house for a hundred years. Even by conservative estimates that take into account realistic industrial and logistical limits, geothermal energy could help the UK reduce its imports of fossil fuels and rely solely on the North Sea for its gas.
“Geothermal energy is very poorly understood,” he said. “You have to come out of the shadows to get to the light. “