UK government announces dedicated heating feed-in-tariff for geothermal
Southampton District Energy Scheme geothermal heating plant, UK (source: commons wikimedia, suitcivil)
Alexander Richter
5 Dec 2013
The UK Government announces a dedicated feed-in-tariff for heat produced by geothermal plants with a tariff of GBP 50 ($81) per MWh. The announcement is seen as a very positive sign for a number of geothermal heating projects in the UK.
As part of a general announcement on support levels for renewable energy technology, the UK Government has significantly increased the tariff for deep geothermal electricity. The ‘strike price’ (effectively a Feed in Tariff) has been raised from £120 to £145 per MWh ($195-235). The Department of Energy and Climate Change also confirmed that deep geothermal technology will have its own dedicated heat tariff of £50 ($81) per MWh under the Renewable Heat Incentive.
Dr Ryan Law, Managing Director of Geothermal Engineering Ltd said that, ‘The announcement was very good news for the deep geothermal industry in the United Kingdom. We have been arguing for some time that the tariff for deep geothermal electricity in the UK needs to be competitive with other countries in Europe. The new strike price should enable us to attract the necessary investment for our flagship electricity project at the United Downs site.’
In the UK there are now several companies looking at geothermal heating projects. Beside Geothermal Engineering, there is GT Energy with its Manchester project, EGS Energy with a combined heat and power project, and Cluff Geothermal.
For all these projects the announcement is great news as it provides a good financial incentive for investors to support these projects and it also might open the door for further incentives for geothermal development beyond heating in the UK.
Source: Geothermal Engineering release
