{"id":65004,"date":"2019-10-15T10:22:17","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T09:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=65004"},"modified":"2019-10-15T10:22:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T09:22:19","slug":"geothermal-heat-and-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/geothermal-heat-and-power\/65004\/","title":{"rendered":"Eden project secures \u00a316.8m to drill first well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Eden Project and EGS Energy Ltd<\/a> have secured \u00a316.8m funding to drill the first well for their geothermal heat and power project<\/h2>\n

After a ten-year campaign to bring the clean, green technology<\/a> to Cornwall, the partners said that the \u00a316.8m in funding will enable them to start drilling on the geothermal heat and power project next summer.<\/p>\n

Eden co-founder Sir Tim Smit said that securing funds and thereby the chance to spark an energy revolution amounts to the biggest leap forward for Eden since it opened in a former clay quarry near St Austell in 2001.<\/p>\n

Sir Tim said: \u201cSince we began, Eden has had a dream that the world should be powered by renewable energy. The sun can provide massive solar power and the wind has been harnessed by humankind for thousands of years but because both are intermittent and battery technology cannot yet store all we need there is a gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the answer lies beneath our feet in the heat underground that can be accessed by drilling technology that pumps water towards the centre of the earth and brings it back up superheated to provide us with heat and electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe missing piece of the jigsaw in a 24\/7 clean renewable energy future is this baseload. Now we have the green light and the funding to start drilling we are determined to make this technology work. And we want to work with others all over the world \u2013 sharing knowledge and encouraging the change as fast as is humanly possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u00a316.8m sum has been secured from a mixture of public and private sources. Cornwall\u2019s final round of EU funding, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has contributed \u00a39.9m. Cornwall Council has put in \u00a31.4m. Institutional investors have contributed the remaining \u00a35.5m.<\/p>\n

The funding will pay for the first phase of the geothermal heat and power project \u2013 drilling one well, a research programme and a heat main, to prove the extent of the resource 4.5km down in the granite that lies beneath the Eden site.<\/p>\n

This first well will initially supply a district heating system for Eden\u2019s Biomes, offices and greenhouses. It will pave the way for the second phase \u2013 another 4.5km well and an electricity plant.<\/p>\n

Completing the second phase will mean that Eden will be generating sufficient renewable energy<\/a> to become carbon positive by 2023 as well as aiming to be able to provide geothermal heat and power for the local area.<\/p>\n

To deliver the plan, a new company, Eden Geothermal Limited (EGL) has been formed. The EGL shareholders are:<\/h3>\n