A new (exciting) opportunity for future geothermal energy in Yorkshire
by Nick Shaw
Yorkshires rich resource history might allow a revival at our doorstep – it is time for a “down to earth” look at geothermal. Although it is nearly 60 million years since Yorkshire was visited by magmatic and volcanic activity as evidenced by the Cleveland dyke, the usual images and concepts associated with geothermal energy might seem out of place. According to the BGS ‘geothermal energy’ refers to any heat derived from the ground, from depths of a few metres to multiple kilometres beneath the earth surface. In Yorkshire therefore there could be scope for heat production and if not production, heat storage in natural aquifers or abandoned and repurposed flooded coal mines or former petroleum assets.
The natural fabric of the land was documented by early surface geological mapping at the start of the science of geology in Yorkshire (Smith 1815, Phillips and Smith 1824). It was augmented by knowledge gained through monastic and artisanal coal and metal mining and the hydrogeological experience gained during construction of the canals network and then railways and tunnels.
With the development of steam powered pumps, the dewatering of the coal sequence allowed substantially deeper mine development and the temperature increase with depth established the reality of earth heat in the exposed and concealed coalfield areas. The onshore search for hydrocarbons that shifted towards the eastern side of Yorkshire following the oil price shocks in the 1970’s through the 1980’s confirmed significantly higher temperatures, regional seals and reservoirs.
A variety of technologies for geothermal energy development are available also known as Geo-energy (Ground source heat pumps GSHP, Borehole Thermal Energy Storage BTES); these are well established and regulated. Mine-water heat recovery is now recognised as a potentially significant resource and is subject to the BGS-UKRI science project in cooperation with the Coal Authority and various UK universities.
These legacy geoassets may also provide large scale heat storage using the existing flooded mine galleries and seams of underlying industrial, urban and residential areas. Newly built aquifer thermal energy storage ATES and also deeper drilled well doublets developing medium temperature resources in sedimentary aquifers have been successfully developed across the North Sea. There is substantial synergy and learning available for the Northern Power House from the Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr conurbations across the North Sea. Pre-abandonment single wells or watered-out oil fields might also be repurposed as heat delivery or storage units in the years to come.
'The talk will review the geology, economics and potential of the geothermal energy schemes to help Yorkshire move through the Energy Transition’. I will try to demonstrate where and how various geothermal energy technologies might be deployed to match resource conditions and potential markets. In addition, I will share some key enablers encouraging successful development of geothermal in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
I will finally highlight the challenges to making reliable reserves and resource estimates when faced with incomplete and spatially aliased subsurface datasets, a way ahead is using play fairway analysis. The challenge for the YGS and the universities of the North as well as wider society is how to work together to help geothermal contribute to our energy (heat) transition.
About the speaker:
Nick Shaw
Visiting Lecturer in Applied Geosciences
https://geosolutions.leeds.ac.uk
University of Leeds
Since 2017 Nick Shaw was appointed visiting lecturer in Applied Geosciences - contributing to Petroleum Engineering, Structural and Engineering Geology programmes and field geological classes and projects. He has been involved in Geosolutions Leeds since its inception focussing on geothermal, storage, hydrocarbons and plays fairways analysis. He also consultants privately working on projects in the UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland and Ethiopia. Nick was born in Huddersfield, graduated in Geology from University of Leeds in 1974 and Structural Geology and Rock Mechanics, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College. He retired in 2016 after 37 years with Royal Dutch Shell working and living mostly overseas in Europe & Asia in exploration, appraisal, field geological, geothermal and training assignments