Coal Authority and Ordnance Survey map mine water heat

Mine water has long been considered a viable source of renewable heat, as it is already warmed geothermally. Heat pumps can extract and boost heat from the water, providing homes and businesses with clean, renewable heating.  

Using the the National Geographic Database, OS provided the Coal Authority with geospatial support as well as location and address data to see what areas of Great Britan could benefit from the country’s extensive disused mine network. Initial results showed that there are just over six million homes and over 300,000 offices and businesses above abandoned coal mines. However, the partners stressed it is too early to say how many of these could tap into the network as a heat source. Data from the project can be viewed on the mine water heat tab of the Coal Authority interactive map viewer.  

“Our data has been used to support the effective mapping of heating and cooling demand across the coal workings areas, providing a way to quickly understand and analyse the distribution of infrastructure and development and seeing which areas could benefit most from the initiative,” said John Kimmance, managing director of National Mapping Services at OS.