The Mine Water Heat Resource in Cornwall
Add to calChapel Lecture Theatre, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter TR10 9FE
Cornwall's historic importance as one of the richest mining regions in the world can be seen to have left a legacy of contaminated land, dangerous mine shafts and risk of subsidence. However, the abandoned and flooded underground workings offer a vast resource of geothermal heat. The development of this type of energy is burgeoning elsewhere in the UK through the use of abandoned coal mines, but the potential for Cornwall's mines has yet to be fully realised.
This lecture discusses the methodologies, challenges and opportunities in the evaluation of this valuable resource, together with case studies.
Tony Bennett is a director of EGS Energy Ltd and a former Operations Director of Eden Geothermal Limited and Assistant Project Manager at the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project. Born in Cornwall and graduating from Camborne School of Mines in 1980, he first worked as a Technical Engineer on Phase 2 of the HDR Geothermal Project during the 1980s.
After this he spent 15 years undertaking desk-top and site investigation risk assessments to properties from mining subsidence. He joined EGS Energy Ltd in 2010 and worked on the planning and development of a deep geothermal heat and power plant at the Eden Project until mid-2023. This background enabled him to be actively involved in feasibility assessments for mine water heat schemes in Cornwall, chiefly through the Southwest Geothermal Alliance.
