The three year United Downs Deep Geothermal Power (UDDGP) project is being undertaken by Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) to explore the deep geothermal resources beneath Cornwall, with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (£10.6m), Cornwall Council (£2.4m) and private investors (£5m).
The project is drilling two deep geothermal holes, or ‘wells’, from its site within the United Downs Industrial Estate and will build a 1MW – 3MW pilot power plant to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of supplying both electricity and heat. The production well is being drilled first to a depth of 4,500m, making it the deepest onshore well in the UK, after which the injection well will be drilled to a depth of 2,500m.
GEL, together with its delivery partners GeoScience Ltd, University of Plymouth and British Geological Survey (BGS), has assembled a small project team to manage the project from its offices in Falmouth and the United Downs site. In addition to Project Management functions, the team includes drilling supervision staff, geologists, geochemists, a Community Relations Manager, and a graphic designer who works on the educational outreach and public dissemination parts of the project.
