£900,000 project searches for renewable energy in Newcastle

Newcastle University engineers have begun a £900,000 project to drill 2,000m below the city in search of renewable energy.

The Newcastle team hope to eventually pump out water at a temperature of around 80 degrees centigrade.



Drilling deep under the planned 24-acre Science Central, the team believe that boreholes here will prove capable of supplying an everlasting source of low-carbon energy hot enough to heat any domestic or commercial central heating system.



The project is funded by the Newcastle Science City Partnership and the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and involves experts from both Newcastle and Durham universities.



The project will be the first to take place on the planned Science Central site which will become a hub for University initiatives tackling the great societal challenge of sustainability.



The project is expected to last six months, with the team hoping to pump out the first hot water in early June.

After further engineering, the resulting heat could eventually be used to supply not only the Science Central site but also part of the city centre.

Last year the Newcastle team pumped up water at a temperature of 40 degrees centigrade from a 1,000m twin-borehole at Eastgate, in Weardale, County Durham.

Project Leader Professor Paul Younger, Director of the University’s Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability said: "If we’re right and we pump up water at such elevated temperatures, it would mean a fully renewable energy supply for a large part of the city centre, massively reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and reinforcing Newcastle’s position as the UK’s most sustainable city."

"And unlike other renewables such as wind and solar, geothermal energy is available at all times, independent of the weather."

Further information:
Newcastle University