Geothermal Energy Lithium (GEL) has celebrated delivering the UK’s first continuous geothermal electricity from its United Downs plant in Cornwall. Octopus Energy has signed a long-term deal to purchase at least 3 MW of power from the site.
GEL has two other deep geothermal sites currently under development in Cornwall, which will together produce 10MW of baseload geothermal power by 2030.
The company said the British Geological Survey has calculated that onshore geothermal sources could provide more than 200GW of heat at a temperature hot enough to use for power generation.
The geothermal fluid at United Downs that is used for the power plant comes from over 5km below the surface – the deepest well ever drilled on UK soil. The water brought to the surface contains over 340 parts per million (ppm) of battery-grade lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) making it one of the highest concentrations of lithium in the world. GEL has also started commercial scale production of zero-carbon lithium carbonate, used to make rechargeable batteries. It expects to produce 100t per annum from the site but said it
aims to scale its production to over 18,000t/yr over the next decade.
Dr Ryan Law, CEO of GEL, said: “This is a huge advancement for geothermal power in the UK and the beginning of our expansion plans. Geothermal energy and critical minerals extraction are naturally complementary as they share the same subsurface resource. The hot, mineral-rich fluids that generate clean electricity can also be processed to recover strategic materials like lithium carbonate.”