Geothermal drilling set to start at Eden Project

Geothermal drilling has started at Eden Project (Image: Eden Project)

Geothermal drilling is set to start at Eden Project as part of the new multimillion-pound project.

Next week, the first lorries carrying a 450-tonne, 55 metre-high drilling rig will arrive on the outer edge of the Eden Project site outside St Austell, Cornwall.

Once fully assembled on a newly-laid concrete platform, the rig will be ready to drill 4.5 kilometres – almost three miles – down into the Earth’s granite crust.

The first phase of drilling is expected to take five months and when complete will then allow water to be injected down the borehole to be superheated by the hot rocks beneath.

The hot water will then be pumped back to the top up a pipe suspended in the same borehole, generating heat initially to warm Eden’s Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes, offices, kitchens and greenhouses. The same water will then be re-circulated to be superheated and used again.

Following the successful completion of  this first phase the next phase is to drill a second well close to the  first to a similar depth of around 4.5km. Managers of the project said the set up will mean even more naturally heated water will be brought to the surface which can be used to generate electricity.

Successfully completing the second phase will mean that the project will generate enough renewable energy for Eden to become carbon negative during 2023.

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Eden Project co-founder Sir Tim Smit  said: “Forget the official po-faced language about sustainability and  our energy future. This is every romantic’s dream.

“Jules Verne would be smiling, as would Brunel, as will every Briton worried that we had lost our island mojo.

“It is a privilege for Eden to be involved in a team embracing the future with the skills of the engineer and the power of the imagination, laying down a marker for a future that is ours to make.”

Research has shown that when geothermal energy is developed, it will be capable of providing around 20% of the  UK’s current electricity demand plus a vast amount of heating. In Germany the industry has created more than 22,000 skilled jobs, and added €13.3 billion to the economy since 2000.

A special viewing area has been erected at Eden to enable visitors to come and observe the ongoing project safely from a nearby path.

The project is being delivered by Eden Geothermal Limited (EGL), a three-way partnership between Eden Project Limited, EGS Energy Limited, a leading geothermal development and consultancy group with experience in Cornwall and worldwide, and BESTEC (UK) Limited, which is affiliated with BESTEC GmbH, the specialist  geothermal developer and drilling advisor.

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