First Geothermal National Centre launches to advocate for UK geothermal growth
The launch of UK's National Geothermal Centre with (L-R) Mark Anderson, Professor Jon Gluyas, Innes Auchterlonie, Dr Charlotte Adams, Anne Murrell, and Nigel Lees (source: NGC)
Carlo Cariaga
13 Jun 2024
The National Geothermal Centre has officially launched to bring together key stakeholders in efforts to advance geothermal energy development in the UK.
The first National Geothermal Centre (NGC) in the UK has officially been launched by founding partners Durham University, Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), SHIFT Geothermal, and The Reece Foundation.
NGC is a non-profit organization that brings together key stakeholders to enable geothermal development at speed and scale to contribute to building the UK’s secure energy future. The NGC aims to accelerate the UK geothermal sector by stimulating and supporting research and innovation, transitioning and developing expertise, and driving the creation of a policy, regulation, and investment framework which enables geothermal advancement.
The new Centre will drive collaboration between government, industry, and academia, championing the integration of geothermal energy into the future renewable energy mix, as a low carbon option for heating homes and industries, and power generation.
The geothermal sector has the potential to be a significant contributor to the UK’s energy targets and economy, meeting 10 GW of the projected heating demand and 1.5GW of the anticipated electricity demand by 2050. Geothermal expansion could create 50,000 jobs for the future and result in an annual reduction of 10 million tonnes of CO? emissions.
The centre is now actively seeking sector engagement to accelerate the uptake of geothermal projects across the UK.
“Geothermal energy is the foundation of energy security in the UK. It is an inexhaustible source of clean heat and power beneath our feet. The new UK National Geothermal Centre will work to unearth geothermal energy,” said Anne Murrell, Director at the NGC.
“Already in the UK geothermal projects are providing stable, low-cost, green energy to homes and businesses. With its expert stakeholders from industry, academia, finance and government, the NGC will expand geothermal development, at speed and at scale.”
“Geothermal has been my personal passion for over 20 years, I remain convinced of its potential for reducing carbon emissions and improving energy security. There is growing interest in UK geothermal and significant progress has been achieved in recent years,” added Dr Charlotte Adams, Director at the NGC.
“The timing is perfect for launching the National Geothermal Centre, it will shape and accelerate our growing geothermal sector through collaborative cross-sector working. The Centre will ultimately help to unlock geothermal for more people and secure its’ position as an essential part of our low carbon energy mix.”
“The launch of the National Geothermal Centre today represents a significant step in realising the opportunities that geothermal energy provides the UK. For several decades there has been a growing and meaningful contribution to our understanding of geothermal potential in the UK, yet we remain in the nascent stages of development with pockets of knowledge and expertise,” further said Nigel Lees, Chair of the NGC.
“The Centre will embrace and build on this, working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure a common understanding of the opportunities and challenges whilst giving a consistent voice and advocacy to fully unlock the geothermal potential in the UK and play a crucial part in the delivery of our net zero ambitions.”
Source: Email correspondence
