AN AMBITIOUS project to extract geothermal energy from hot rocks was launched in the UK this week. Can it avoid the same fate as recent high-profile and potentially dangerous failed attempts elsewhere in the world?
The plan is to build a 3-megawatt commercial geothermal energy plant to power the in Cornwall, and the nearby community. A pilot project will test a technique to extract heat from hot dry rocks at a depth of about 3.5 kilometres.
The technology involved has yet to prove itself to be reliable or safe. A Swiss geothermal project in Basel (pictured), was closed…
