Summary
-
The UK's climate goals demand a substantial increase in clean and firm power and decarbonised heat. Next-generation geothermal energy emerges as a promising yet often overlooked solution to this challenge. Recent advancements have expanded its potential, creating many opportunities in the UK.
-
Next-generation geothermal power offers multiple advantages: it is clean, has a small surface footprint, can be built rapidly, offers always-available power, load-following capabilities, and can scale from single MW installations to dozens of GWs across a grid. Because it is constructed by the existing oil and gas drilling workforce, it can be scaled up without building new factories or creating new supply chains. In addition to clean electricity and heat, it produces hot water as a byproduct, which is ideal for district heating networks.
-
Next-Generation geothermal plants could revitalise the South-West, North-East, and Northern Ireland, providing high-skilled jobs, affordable electricity, and nearly free heating to areas that need support. These plants could also supply decarbonised heat to local industrial facilities.
-
This is a rapidly-developing field with few clear global leaders. The UK was among the first countries to experiment with enhanced geothermal energy in the 1970s. A concentrated push from the government now could result in reclaiming Britain's early dominance and being a global leader for this field. Traditional technical challenges and questions concerning geothermal have largely been solved by government-backed research in the US and Iceland. Relying on this research drastically decreases the financial burden for the UK.
-
Current challenges primarily cost and awareness can be swiftly addressed through targeted government intervention. To prioritise next-generation geothermal energy, the UK should:
-
Raise awareness of geothermal as a renewable firm power and heat solution
-
Unlock specific regulatory and legal bottlenecks that currently obstruct development
-
Make sure geothermal can fully benefit from Contracts for Difference incentive mechanisms
-
Issue a policy statement promoting enhanced geothermal expansion
-
Allocate new funds for active government initiatives to facilitate geothermal development.
-
Challenge and Opportunity
The Need for Firm Power
The UK faces daunting financial, logistical, and technical hurdles in its quest to decarbonise electricity by 2035 and heat supply by 2050. These ambitious targets require a 175% increase in zero-carbon electricity by 2035. The UK has decarbonised faster than its peers, but as gas and coal power plants are phased out, solar and wind fall short of being a complete solution. To completely decarbonise, the UK needs firm-power solutions that can be scaled up and down on demand.
Solar and wind power, at their peak, provide as much as 64% of UK electricity. But, while they are an excellent way to decarbonise much of the grid, they do not provide firm power. A grid overly reliant on intermittent energy sources like solar and wind power can suffer from significant problems. This issue is evident in places like California and Germany where, despite having a surplus of energy during the day, at night the grid can fail to meet peak demand even with fossil fuel backup. Without firm power alternatives counteracting the supply variability from these energy sources, it is estimated we would need to pay a 50-100% cost premium to have a stable grid.
The UK's goals demand the integration of 'firm-energy' sources reliable and flexible options that consistently meet demand regardless of weather conditions. Unfortunately, there are no silver bullets for firm energy:
-
Large-scale industrial batteries face technological barriers for long-term storage or scalability issues.
-
Wave and tidal power, despite their potential to generate 11% of UK power, confront numerous technical and environmental obstacles, delaying their market readiness.
-
Even nuclear energy, whose expansion we support, grapples with high costs and prolonged construction timelines for new plants.
In this briefing we lay out the case for UK next-generation geothermal power including steps that can be taken to access this abundant source of energy.
The Case for Next-Generation Geothermal Power
Geothermal power harnesses heat from the Earth's crust, converting it into electricity or utilising it directly for heating purposes. Traditionally, geothermal energy exploitation was limited to a few unique geological locations where substantial heat naturally rises to the Earth's surface. For example, in Iceland - an island that hit the thermal jackpot - 70% of total energy comes from geothermal sources. However, recent advancements have significantly expanded the potential for geothermal power. These innovations could now enable next-generation geothermal energy production in locations previously deemed unsuitable, including the UK.
