NZTC plans to build national centre for UK geothermal sector
Aberdeen Castle Gate, Scotland/ UK (source: flickr/ Bernt Rostad, creative commons)
Carlo Cariaga
23 Nov 2022
UK-based Net Zero Technology Centre has announced plans of putting up National Geothermal Innovation Centre, a central hub for the geothermal sector in UK and globally.
The Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) has announced plans of putting up the National Geothermal Innovation Centre, a central hub that will be the go-to centre for geothermal technology challenges both in the UK and globally. The NZTC also envisions this centre to aid in supporting the government to create legislation that will benefit and set the best practices for geothermal.
Calum Watson, senior project engineer at NZTC, said that geothermal can account for up to 20% of Britain’s energy mix, but the industry is being hampered by high upfront costs in drilling and exploration. The proposed centre will help address this issue by helping scale up new technologies, providing a knowledge hub to share learnings, and aid in funding start-ups.
No details yet were provided on when the facility will be built or how it will be funded. However, Watson mentioned that it will be through a “partner-led roadmap” similar to the government-funded NZTC.
NZTC was in the news recently for selecting UK-based geothermal specialist CeraPhi Energy as one of 20 winners of a GBP 10-million funding competition. CeraPhi Energy was selected as a winner under the “Late Life and Decommissioning” category for their work on converting oil and gas liabilities into geothermal assets.
Source: Aberdeen Business News
