§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make an announcement about future work on the geothermal project in Cornwall.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI intend to allocate nearly £11 million over the next three years from my Department's non-nuclear R and D budget to further research by the Camborne school of mines on the extraction of heat from rock deep underground. The work will be carried out on the existing site at Rosemanowes quarry near Falmouth. I also intend to allocate about £1.5 million to related background studies by the Institute of Geological Sciences.
Results from the major experiments carried out over the past three years at a depth of about 2,000 metres have been encouraging but further research is required to prove the practicability of the technique. The next phase of research 47W will involve drilling a deeper hole to make a connection from below with the large reservoir of fractured hot rock already created around the existing pair of holes.
Heat extraction by circulating water from the surface through fractures created in hot dry rock underground, if it can be accomplished economically, would give access to a major new energy source spread widely across the country.