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Heating project in Crewe, UK gets green light for drilling

Heating project in Crewe, UK gets green light for drilling Crewe campus, Cheshire, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Alexander Richter 30 Sep 2015

A geothermal heating project by Geothermal Engineering Ltd. at the university campus in Crewe of Manchester Metropolitan University has received the green light for its drilling campaign to start this winter.

UK-based Geothermal Engineering Ltd. (GEL) announced this summer that it was planning to develop a deep geothermal single well heat system at the Crewe Campus of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Local news are now reporting that the project has received the green light from the local Council to go ahead with its drilling campaign, which is expected to take about 35 days.

Led by the company the project plans to demonstrate how a cluster of buildings can be heated by geothermal energy using a single 2km well system. This is a system that has been developed by GEL over the past two years and was successfully trialled in 2014. It will deliver and connect the first deep geothermal single well heat system in the UK and would be a watershed for the renewable energy industry. The project is part funded by the Innovative Heat Network Fund (Department of Energy and Climate Change).

The project contributes to Manchester Metropolitan University’s (MMU) environmental strategy and supports the work the University is doing to reduce carbon emissions on a wider scale. It is estimated that the project will reduce the gas use of the academic buildings at the Cheshire Campus by 37% – reducing carbon and saving money. It will make the Cheshire Campus a showcase for green technologies – having a number of low carbon technologies on site already including solar panels, solar thermal and rainwater harvesting.

Dr Ryan Law, Managing Director of GEL said, ‘The deep geothermal single well project at the Crewe Campus will be a first for the UK. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that deep geothermal heat projects can substantially reduce carbon savings and energy costs. MMU have shown themselves to be very forward thinking in working with us on this project. We look forward to drilling the well and developing the project later this year.’

Source: Crewe Chronicle, Geothermal Engineering Ltd.