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Once discarded coal mines are sustainably heating EU homes

Credit: Coal Authority
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London, UK
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Abandoned coal mines are proving a surprisingly effective source of zero-carbon energy in Europe. That’s what you call poetic justice.

It’s strange to think the bones of old fossil fuel mines may actually help our net zero ambitions, but we’ll take any win we can get.

Throughout parts of Europe, abandoned coal mines have gradually flooded following decades of disuse. This has inadvertently provided an opportunity to generate clean geothermal energy for entire towns and an increasing number of regions are catching on.

A project in the English town Gateshead has completely altered the legacy of a once renowned coalfield community. Its sprawling underground network of tunnels has been providing residents and local businesses with green energy for the last six months.

Across the nation, an estimated two billion cubic metres of warm water – more than a quarter the volume of Loch Ness – lays dormant in these mines, gradually consolidating to create what geologists describe as of the most underused sources of clean energy to ever exist.

https://youtu.be/HS0v6rqA1Co

The temperature of this water is usually already between 20C and 45C to begin with, depending on how deep the mine shaft is and the resting duration it has had to mix with subterranean rock.

Once boreholes are drilled, the water can be extracted and directed through heat pumps which compress the liquid and raise its temperature to optimal geothermal levels. It is then distributed to various heating networks, before being released back into the mine.

This circular system has the advantage of working all year round unaffected by seasonal shifts, and experts believe the water may also be used to efficiently cool homes in the summer by powering AC machines. Neat, eh?

Once at the heart of the UK industrial revolution, Gateshead has installed 5km of new heating pipes since March. Here, an energy centre is generating upwards of 6 mega-watts of green power which provides heating to 350 homes, a college, an art gallery, several office buildings, and a large manufacturing site.

Part of the minewater heat project infrastructure in Gateshead, UK.
Credit: Coal Authority

Though the UK is seriously pushing geo-energy in 2023, it’s really following a precedent set by other European nations – some as far back 2008.

The world’s first mine water station opened in the Dutch city of Heerlen. Today, its network of dormant water heating is connected to some 500 houses and commercial buildings, reportedly slashing the area’s overall carbon emissions outlay by roughly two thirds.

Other nations re-purposing redundant underground reserves for geothermal energy include Spain (in the rural region of Asturias), Iceland, and Canada, among others.

Not only is this burgeoning energy drive a huge boon sustainably speaking, but it is also propping up towns once heavily reliant on mining to prop up their economies.

It’s a win for all concerned.

Tech Editor London, UK

I’m Jamie (He/Him), the Deputy Editor and a Senior Writer at Thred. Keeping up with social media updates and revolutionary technology is my forte, but when away from my keyboard, you’ll probably find me wrapped around a large Tango ice blast at the latest mediocre horror flick. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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