- Joined
- 24 Sep 2005
- Messages
- 6,345
- Reaction score
- 268
- Country
[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/23/geothermal-energy]Guardian[/url] said:
Southampton has been there for a while if not more !!
[Quote"Nat' Arch's"]Geothermal combined heat and power (CHP) scheme - Southampton: Geothermal energy
In the 1970s, a Department of Energy research programme identified possible sites of deep geothermal aquifers that contained water at a temperature high enough to provide heating for a number of buildings. One such site was at the Marchwood power station on Southampton Water. A second well in the centre of Southampton itself found water at a depth of nearly 1,800 metres and at a temperature of 76°C. However, the size of the resource was deemed too small to develop the planned large-scale district heating scheme. The project was abandoned by the Department of Energy. At this point, the City Council went into partnership with Utilicom, a French-owned energy management company with experience in this area. They developed the scheme, which is now a thriving and expanding £4 million multi-source heating and chilling system.
The original well, which currently provides about a fifth of the system’s heat input, operates alongside CHP generators. These use conventional fuels to make electricity. The waste heat from this process is recovered for distribution through the 11-kilometre mains network. Southampton’s scheme also has conventional boilers for top-up and standby needs. More than 20 major consumers in the city centre are now served by the district heating scheme, including the Civic Centre, four hotels, the Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton Institute of Higher Education and an ASDA superstore. Recent developments include a district chilling system using the latest absorption chilling technology.
The geothermal well remains at the heart of the scheme. However, the current rate of flow is expected to decline eventually. The scheme delivers more than 30,000 megawatt hours of heat each year, alongside 4,000 megawatt hours of electricity sold from the generating plant plus 1,200 megawatt hours of power providing chilled water on tap.[/quote]
http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/energy/Geothermal/thescheme.aspx
I wonder just what a consumer pays per kWh for the energy extracted down there on the coast...
Similar if not the same -
Hot rocks and high hopes - The Economist
-0-
