At the heart of this Government’s agenda are three key priorities: the development of new and innovative sources of employment and economic growth, rapid decarbonisation of our society, and levelling up - reducing the inequalities between diferent parts of the UK. I’m therefore delighted to be able to ofer my support to this report, which, perhaps uniquely, involves an approach which has the potential to address all three of these priorities
Foreword
Mine energy, the use of the geothermally heated water in abandoned coal mines, is not a new technology, but it is one with the potential to deliver thousands of jobs. One quarter of the UK’s homes and businesses are sited on former coalfields.
The Coal Authority estimates that there is an estimated 2.2 GWh of heat available – enough to heat all of these homes and businesses, and drive economic growth in some of the most disadvantaged communities in our country. Indeed, this report demonstrates that if we only implement the 42 projects currently on the Coal Authority’s books, we will deliver almost 4,500 direct jobs and a further 9-11,000 in the supply chain, at the same time saving 90,000 tonnes of carbon.
The report also identifies a number of issues which need to be addressed to take full advantage of this opportunity; with investment, intelligence, supply chain development, skills and technical support all needing attention. It indicates though that none of these issues are insurmountable and BEIS will therefore work with the Coal Authority, and its partners in the Mine Energy Task Force, to further explore the options for exploiting this zero carbon energy source.
Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Executive summary
According to the Coal Authority, one quarter of the UK’s homes and businesses are sited on former coalfields. Since the cessation of mining much of the underground network of old mine workings has become filled with water which has been warmed by natural geothermal processes. The Coal Authority estimates that there is sufcient energy in this water to heat all of the homes on the coalfields. The exploitation of this resource – mine energy – would make a significant contribution to solving one of the most pressing low carbon challenges facing the country, namely the decarbonisation of heat.
Additionally, owing to the co-location of the resource with often disadvantaged areas, the development of mine energy schemes would directly contribute to the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, and could be harnessed to create a powerful narrative of renewal for old coalfield communities. Recent developments in North East England have placed the UK at the forefront of a new generation of mine energy schemes, but the sector is in an early and therefore vulnerable stage of development and requires public support to ensure its continued development. This white paper makes the case for mine energy and provides a series of recommendations, generated through a literature review and extensive stakeholder consultation, intended to help ensure the development of this sector.
The nature of the resource
The Coal Authority estimates that there are 23,000 abandoned deep coal mines around the UK. Following abandonment, the void spaces created by mining fill with water which has been naturally warmed (12–20°C) by sub-surface geological processes and as such is zero carbon.
Through the use of heat pumps, some of this heat can be extracted and used to heat fresh water, which can then be used to provide low carbon heating and hot water for use in domestic and commercial buildings via heat networks. The most convenient and costefective way of accessing mine water heat is via Coal Authority mine water treatment plants.
There are currently 75 of these and they play an important role in protecting water quality. Currently heat from these sites is not utilised, but there is growing interest in this resource. After treatment plants, the next most convenient way of accessing mine water is via old mine shafts; however, many of these were filled and capped when mines were closed, and it is not clear how many could serve for use in mine energy schemes.
Drilling boreholes, to tap into known reservoirs of mine water, is the most expensive way of accessing mine energy, but also the most flexible as it allows end users to access the resource close to existing and planned sources of demand. Provided that heat extraction does not exceed the level of natural heat, recharge mine water heat-based systems are sustainable, as evidenced by a number of long-established schemes in mainland Europe and North America. Recent advances in thinking and practice suggest that the benefits associated with mine energy schemes can be enhanced by using mines to store surplus (waste) or seasonally available (solar thermal) heat sources.
Progress to date
The first known mine energy schemes emerged in the 1980s. One of the earliest, based in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada, was established in 1988 and remains in operation to this day. Other notable schemes have been established at Heerlen in the Netherlands and Barredo in Spain. Schemes such as these have helped to develop and refine approaches to mine energy scheme development, but until recently only a limited number of schemes have been developed, with only three small schemes having been established in the UK prior to 2020. The primary reason for the limited number of developments appears to be the low cost of fossil fuels. However, with the acknowledged need to transition to low-carbon energy sources there has been a renewed interest in mine energy and a new wave of schemes have been commissioned.
The UK is currently at the forefront of this wave. For example, enabled by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), Lanchester Wines, a private company based in North East England, has installed 2.4MW and 1.6 MW mine waterbased heating systems. These are currently the largest schemes in the UK, but will shortly be eclipsed by a 6MW scheme led by Gateshead Council and a proposed garden village scheme at Seaham (County Durham), both supported by funding from the Heat Networks Investment Programme (HNIP). Multiple other UK schemes have been subject to some level of investigation and the Coal Authority has suggested that there is currently a potential pipeline of 42 projects.