EGS Energy requesting time extension on project permit

Pernzance, Cornwall, UK (source: flickr/ The Brit_2, creative commons)

Alexander Richter 20 Nov 2013

Developing geothermal projects has not been easy over the past few years pretty much all over the world. So it is no surprise that in the new territory for geothermal development in the UK, developers find it difficult to raise the funding. This applies particularly to the EGS projects planned by EGS Energy and Geothermal Engineering in Cornwall.

News now report that the Eden project – a collaboration between the tourist attraction and geothermal experts EGS Energy – is now seeking for an extension of its permits, to be able to fulfil legal requirement of development activities.

The project was initially approved by Cornwall Council in 2010, with plans to drilling holes around 4,500 meters into underlying granite for a planned EGS project. The project plans to not only produce electricity but also heating for the community nearby.

So news now report that “the 2010 consent approved the drilling of the two wells and associated works, with the proviso that plans for the power station were submitted to the council within three years. However, without funding it has not been possible to complete drilling the wells, and the scheme has stalled.”, so This is Cornwall today.

Now the company needs to ask the Council for more time and a revised timescale.  Guy Macpherson-Grant, managing director of EGS Energy, said: “The reality is when it was approved for planning permission it was a different world.

The company has found it “difficult to achieve private funding and are now looking to a potential mixture of public and private funding.”

“An application for a variation of the condition, which would allow details of the power plant to be submitted to Cornwall Council two years from the start of drilling on the second of the two deep wells, will be decided upon by the strategic planning committee this week.”

Source: This is Cornwall