Last week at United Downs, I attended the opening of the UK’s first ever geothermal power plant – another historic first for Cornwall. Although the launch date clashed with a by-election in Manchester, several Ministers have asked me since, how the launch went having seen coverage in national media. This was a significant moment in the UK’s transition away from fossil fuel reliance. Thanks for the 280 million year old Cornubian batholith – the technical name for the granite beneath our feet – Cornwall’s geothermal potential is huge. We have known about it for decades but it’s only recently that we are starting to properly commercialise the naturally degrading uranium, potassium and thorium that creates our geothermal heat. As a happy by-product, the team at Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL) discovered that the brines in the water that came to the surface from the UK’s deepest hole were enriched with incredibly high grade lithium. So as well as the geothermal heat that is producing energy, there is also now a lithium processing plant situated at the site.
In the evening after the launch, I was privileged to have dinner with the GEL team and their board of investors. It is clear that the team are keen to expand and accelerate operations across Cornwall. And why not? This one well will produce enough energy to power 10,000 homes as well as thousands of tonnes of lithium. The significance of the launch was brought into sharp focus by the American and Israeli attack on Iran just a few hours later. The direct consequences of this attack were that the international price of crude oil and gas leapt. Inevitably, this will lead to increases in household energy and fuel bills across western economies. In the attack on Iran, there could be no starker example of why the Government’s policy of insulating ourselves from such geopolitical shocks by developing homegrown, renewable energy is absolutely the right one. Derided by some on the right and far right, who would prefer to have us perpetually beholden to the international gas price, the Government’s energy policy is to accelerate renewable energy projects including onshore wind, off-shore wind, geothermal, tidal, solar and nuclear. This suit of renewable energy sources will allow us to break free from the shackles of the wholesale gas price and avoid future international shocks.
There is another very important benefit of geothermal energy over most other renewable energy sources. Unlike wind and solar, geothermal energy is baseload – in other words, it doesn’t rely on the wind to blow or the sun to shine. It is permanently available. And in Cornwall, because of our really special geology, we have absolutely masses of it. These are really exciting times for Cornwall’s renewable and critical minerals industries. We find ourselves at the very heart of this Labour Government’s industrial and energy policies and Cornwall’s Labour MPs are making certain that the Government is aware of the potential of Cornwall to help drive that new industrial age and, in so doing, creating jobs, bringing wealth to the Duchy and unleashing the Cornish Celtic Tiger.
