Home ReportA deep geothermal energy white paper

A deep geothermal energy white paper

The case for deep geothermal energy – unlocking investment at scale in the UK

Net Zero

This report is commissioned by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) and funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub.

It aims to provide an evidence-based assessment and ‘case making’ document to help accelerate the development and deployment of deep geothermal energy projects in the UK. This commission follows and is intended to complement the Mine Energy White Paper, led and procured by the North East LEP during 2020 and 2021, on behalf of the UK Mine Energy Taskforce.

This paper is supplemented by a more detailed report (referred to as the ‘evidence report’), which contains more detailed analysis of the geothermal landscape and provides the methodologies, data and references that have informed the development of this paper.

Forward

The strategic aim of the Government to deliver secure, carbon free sources of energy and heat has been given sharp emphasis by the impact of the recent conflict in Ukraine, which has shown so clearly the need to diversify and develop future UK based sources of green energy. Businesses and consumers alike have experienced the uncertainty and cost which has followed the war. We need to ensure that our long-term supplies are secure, as well as drive forward our determination to achieve our net zero commitments and levelling up ambitions as we deliver on that aim.

This is why I am delighted to welcome this report commissioned by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership on behalf the UK Geothermal Task Force and delivered by the British Geological Survey. As a companion piece to the Mine Energy White paper published two years ago, which has led to significant interest in extracting heat from the water in our coalfields and helped accelerate a group of demonstrator projects, it highlights the opportunity to deliver a significant response to our future demand for heat through the deep geothermal resources which lie beneath our country in our rocks and sedimentary basins.

Geothermal energy has one of the lowest carbon footprints compared to other technologies and its availability across the UK means that by connecting it to district heating networks we can deliver a secure, local and flexible baseload technology which can provide for our domestic, commercial and public sector requirements for heat. It is complimentary to Mine Energy, and their development together can lead to acceleration on a range of other heat technologies, on financing and skills.

Geothermal energy offers a wide range of potential economic and wider benefits. Like Mine Energy, its exploitation has the potential to deliver new jobs and investment into regions of the UK which are central to our Levelling Up agenda. It is a technology which can supply the requirements of the public sector estate, which is one of the main emitters of heat related greenhouse gases through large buildings such as hospitals, prisons, and schools, as well as in other buildings in private ownership which have predictable and continuous heating requirements.

This means that publicly-led investment in geothermal energy can both reduce the emissions associated with the public sector and create a stable context for private sector investment from developers, including those currently active in oil and gas sectors for whom a shift to low carbon sectors is an urgent priority and who can help bring this technology into full market deployment. And geothermal energy has the potential to be available across the UK, 24 hours per day independent of the weather or the decisions of other Government’s.

The development of the deep geothermal energy sector in the UK has the potential to meet multiple priorities and deliver on both our Net Zero objectives and energy security ambition, and the Government looks forward to working with those who have prepared this report to drive it forward.

Lord Callanan Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

May 2023

Download the paper (PDF)