Better understanding of a potential new energy resource for coalfield areas is being researched by a PhD student in conjunction with the Coal Authority.
Mylène’s thesis - Investigating geothermal heat resources of legacy mine workings, why are some mine waters hotter than others? - will explore the key controls that create differences between different sites.
When mines are abandoned and the pumps which kept them dry are switched off, the roadways, galleries and fractures fill with groundwater, which is heated by geothermal energy from the earth’s core to temperatures of 11 to 20°C close to the surface and up to 46°C in deeper coal seams.
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