Shift Geothermal calls for national geo-energy centre

The organisation, a non-profit comprised of academics and energy sector specialists, believes geological resources from the UK’s oil and gas sectors can be repurposed to produce geo-energy but a lack of collaboration and coordination is undermining progress.

According to Shift Geothermal, geo-energy could deliver up to 25 per cent of the UK’s energy mix by 2050 but this would require government commitment and a strategic approach to sharing research to propel innovation and pilot projects.

In a statement, Dr Alison Auld, a director of SHIFT Geothermal said: “Geo-energy has huge potential in the UK, but this has been largely overlooked and we now risk being left behind in terms of both investment and projects despite that potential.

“The future energy mix will be increasingly diverse, and technologies must be accelerated to rapidly enable sources of net zero carbon energy. People all too often think of Iceland and volcanoes when they think of geo-energy, but the technology has moved on. Repurposing and reusing existing offshore infrastructure for geo-energy is a transformational pivot for the UK to develop a new, limitless, home-grown clean energy source whilst supporting the economy and creating jobs.”