The UK’s National Geothermal Centre (NGC) takes a comprehensive approach to advancing geothermal energy deployment.We have four key pillars: research & knowledge exchange, policy & regulation, technology & innovation, and infrastructure investment.This broad framework unites a range of stakeholders, building momentum, fostering interconnectivity and cultivating transferable skills to drive collective progress.

A UK strength is its established petroleum sector, a reservoir of skills, knowhow, infrastructure and supply chain critical to successful geothermal developments.The NGC and its founding partners have already brought to the fore projects in which petroleum assets become geothermal assets and it is also supporting the transfer of skills into geothermal energy from other sectors.

Meanwhile, on the global stage, Germany’s leadership in geothermal technology, policy and deployment offers valuable insights and partnership opportunities.The growing collaboration between the NGC and Germany enhances knowledge sharing, regulatory alignment and joint innovation, helping both countries advance their geothermal ambitions and contribute to global net-zero goals.

The NGC has a vision to deliver a robust geothermal energy industry in the UK that could provide 50,000 direct jobs, 10 GW of heat, 1.5 GW of electricity, and 10Mt of CO₂ avoided annually. NGC’s upcoming roadmap presents a focused strategy to achieve this vision, leveraging talent across multiple sectors and incorporates international insights.This presentation will explore the path to reach these goals.

Delivered by NGC representatives, gain:

• First-hand insights on the new NGC roadmap
• Key examples of how cross-sector collaboration drives progress
• Practical guidance on leveraging international partnerships to unlock the UK’s geothermal potential

Climate change is a well-documented and supported by many publications. The consequence of this are more frequent & unpredictable major floods, fires, droughts. Research and development at the Rosemanowes site in Cornwall (1975-1990) and the European engineered geothermal systems (EGS) site at Soultz (France) have shown that natural hydraulically conductive faults exist in igneous basements at depth. These can be hydraulically manipulated for extracting high-temperature fluid. The circulating fluid may also contain valuable minerals such as lithium. This pioneering R&D project led to several successful commercial EGS projects in Germany (Insheim, Landau) and in France (ECOGI; Rittershoffen), all of which are located in the Rhine Graben.

Cooperation between centres with relevant expertise is proposed to accelerate the development of geothermal energy in the UK. Therefore, we propose a joint collaborative research program located in the counties of Cornwall and Durham. The first objectives of the research program is to establish a joint centre of excellence on EGS. Cornwall, UK, is renowned for its natural resources: the county’s history is embedded in mining of valuable economic commodities going back to the Roman times. It is estimated that by accessing hot rocks at a depth of 5,000 m, up to 20 % of the current electricity generating capacity of the UK can be delivered for 200 years.

This is an introduction to the geothermal potential of the Worcester Graben. UK Geothermal exploration and exploitation is nascent compared to mainland Europe, and within the UK the Worcester Graben has been overlooked.

Initiated by Permo-Triassic rifting and one of a chain of basins in the country, this north-south oriented basin lies between Birmingham and Bristol and east-west from the Malvern to Cotswold Hills. The depth of the sedimentary sequence exceeds 3000m with an average geothermal gradient of 27^oC/km giving a temperature of 80-90^oC at 2500m. A gradient of 41^oC/km was recorded near Gloucester providing an upside temperature of >100^oC.

The principal target is the Permian Bridgenorth Sandstones (Rotliegend Group) with secondary potential in the Triassic Bromsgrove and Kidderminster Sandstones (Sherwood/Bunter Group).

Interpretation relies on gravity, magnetic, seismic and well data as well as previously published data, papers and reports. The quality and vintage of all data is good to poor with the most recent seismic acquired in 1985 and the last deep well drilled in 1989 – all principally for hydrocarbons and no well has been drilled to date to specifically test for geothermal energy.

The lack of well penetration in the basin centre, paucity of reservoir measurements and coverage of temperature data means that uncertainty will remain in the primary geothermal parameters that control project viability. However, this paper demonstrates that the basin provides excellent potential for a heat network with deeper prospectivity for direct power generation in the Palaeozoic below 6km.

The UK, through regional initiatives in Cornwall and County Durham, is developing a bold proposal for a ‘Next-Generation’ Geothermal Centre of Excellence to demonstrate cutting-edge geothermal technologies and accelerate sector growth. Modelled on the US Department of Energy’s FORGE programme, the Centre seeks approximately £200m public investment over 10-years to establish an open-access R&D training facility, with two flagship demonstration sites in Cornwall and Northeast England.

Cornwall is proven to be geothermally viable, with decades of R&D at the Rosemanowes HDR test site underpin the successful drilling and operation of projects at United Downs and Eden Geothermal. These projects have generated a wealth of geological, thermal and modelling data informing ongoing RD&I and a pipeline of projects. County Durham complements this with a strong track record in exploration drilling and geothermal RD&I, including test site for heat storage and extensive experience in mine water heat recovery.

These two mature ecosystems of projects, knowledge base, data and stakeholder support provides a strong foundation for Next-Generation demonstration and future RD&I.

The Centre would deliver:

• two ‘Next-Generation’ demonstration projects
• testbeds for supply chain innovation
• multi-disciplinary R&D
• training and upskilling programmes
• open-access data

The proposal is industry led, with interest from international stakeholders and investors. Adopting Next-Generation technologies to reduce drilling times, costs and increase outputs, to meet soaring demand for 24/7 clean energy, would position the UK as a global leader. This is a unique opportunity to align policy, industry and research for impactful, sustainable energy transition.

Minewater, and the subsurface in general, offers an incredible thermal resource for ground-source heat pumps, however the rate of abstraction requires careful management to not outpace the rate of natural heat recharge. The Geobattery concept addresses this heat mining effect by utilising minewaters to cool heat generating industries and then recycling that heat back into the flooded legacy mineworkings for heat users to access. Enabling this circular heat economy decarbonises both heating and cooling with minimal infrastructure requirements.

The Galleries2Calories project is developing a working Proof-of-Concept pilot site for GeoBattery, located at the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Estate. The pilot’s ultimate objective is recycling and transmitting waste heat from the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) towards the nearby community of Loanhead. Work to-date has focused on characterising and developing conceptual geochemical and hydrogeological models of the targeted mineworkings for geochemistry, and predicting fate and transport of injected heat. Recent drilling and coring work has successfully established a borehole in the targeted section of the mineworkings of Roslin colliery with some preliminary in-situ hydrogeological testing. This presentation discusses the Geobattery pilot-site development, providing an overview of preliminary characterisation, drilling and coring work, and lessons learned for other minewater geothermal schemes.