What we do: BGS projects and UK geothermal potential

Piloting Underground Storage of Heat in Geothermal Reservoirs (PUSH-IT) is an EU-funded project that aims to improve the understanding, development and acceptance of heat storage technologies. The consortium is led by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and consists of 19 partners.

For more information please contact Andrés González Quirós.

The NERC-funded ‘Hypogene karst: genesis and implications to optimisation of low enthalpy energy resources’ project, led by the University of Manchester, aims to provide a better understanding of the genesis of these karst systems and the potential implications for circulation of deep fluids and low-enthalpy geothermal systems in the UK.

The role of BGS is to support to the speleological, hydrogeological and modelling activities by providing expert knowledge and datasets.

For more information please contact Vanessa Banks.

BGS is a co-investigator in the EPSRC-funded Geothermal Energy from Mines and Solar Geothermal heat Storage (GEMS) project, led by Durham University.

The project will use the UK Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow to perform field tests to improve the understanding of the flow and transport of heat in flooded underground mines. BGS is also contributing hydrogeological and heat-flow modelling.

For more information please contact Alison Monaghan.

Geothermal Power generated from UK granites or GWatt aims to develop a better understanding of fluid and heat flow in deep fractured rocks in order to improve and encourage the use of geothermal energy in the UK. The project has received £1.8 million in funding from NERC and the consortium is formed by research, business and Government partners, including BGS.

For more information please contact Christopher Rochelle.

This project provides underpinning geoscientific data and knowledge for geothermal resource assessment of the East African Rift. Continental-scale geothermal data compiled by BGS has been incorporated into a Geothermal Atlas for Africa as part of the LEAP-RE EU-funded project.

REFLECT aimed to improve the understanding of the behaviour and properties of fluids in deep geothermal reservoirs. The project was funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme. It investigated more than a dozen geothermal fields in Europe, including the United Downs in the UK.

For more information please contact Christopher Rochelle.

This project integrated surface and subsurface geological and geophysical data collected by the oil and gas industry to identify deep geothermal targets in Carboniferous limestone strata across central and southern Great Britain. A 3D static geological model was created and quantified the UK heat-in-place and potentially recoverable heat resource from this geothermal play. BGS also collaborated with the University of Manchester to understand the structural configuration of this unit from onshore to offshore in the East Irish Sea.

For more information please contact Timothy Kearsey.

BGS participated as partner in the EU-funded Managing Urban Shallow geothermal Energy (GEOera-MUSE) project, investigating the resources and possible conflicts of shallow geothermal resources in European urban areas. Among the pilot areas, two were located in the UK: Cardiff (with focus of the city-scale groundwater temperature characterisation to support the development of geothermal energy) and Glasgow.

For more information please contact David Boon.

The Cooperation in Geothermal energy research Europe-Mexico for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems and Superhot Geothermal Systems (GEMex) project was a collaborative project with partners in Mexico and Europe to develop innovative methods for accessing deep geothermal resources in variable geological formations.

For more information please contact Christopher Rochelle.

The ThermoMap project focused on information for shallow geothermal potential across Europe. The project was co-funded by the EU FP7-ICT Policy Support Programme and involved 12 partners from nine EU member states.

An online tool was produced of the very shallow (down to 10 m) geothermal potential covering an estimation of the superficial deposits in the nine countries involved in this project (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Romania and the UK).

The project aimed to compare experiences and draw lessons from the shale gas experience in order to develop an approach to governance and community engagement for geothermal energy developments for a just and sustainable energy future.

• • Underground energy on-the-ground: risk perception, community engagement and lessons learned for geothermal energy in a post-shale energy landscape

• • Regulation and public decision making in geothermal energy

For more information please contact Corinna Abesser.

By comparing different media, this project aimed to understand to what extent, and why, different types of seismic events in the UK (tectonic and those induced by shale gas and other human activities) are reported differently.

For more information please contact Hazel Napier.

• Abesser, C, Gonzalez Quiros, A, and Boddy, J. 2023. The case for deep geothermal energy – unlocking investment at scale in the UK. A deep geothermal energy white paper.
• Abesser, C, Gonzalez Quiros, A, and Boddy, J. 2023. Evidence report supporting the deep geothermal energy white paper : the case for deep geothermal energy – unlocking investment at scale in the UK. Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 134pp. (OR/23/032)
• Who owns geothermal heat?
• Geothermal energy: POST Brief 46

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Busby, J, and Terrington, R. 2017. Assessment of the resource base for engineered geothermal systems in Great Britain. Geothermal Energy, Vol. 5, article 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40517-017-0066-z

Downing, R A, and Gray, D A. 1986. Geothermal resources of the United Kingdom. Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. 143, 499–507. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.143.3.049

Farr, G, Busby, J, Wyatt, L, Crooks, J, Schofield, D I, and Holden, A. 2020. The temperature of Britain’s coalfields. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Vol. 54(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2020-109

Fellgett, M, and Monaghan, A A. 2024. User guide : BGS UK Geothermal Catalogue first digital release, legacy data. Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 32pp. (OR/23/060) (Unpublished) https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/537202/

Gillespie, M R, Crane, E J, and Barron, H F. 2013. Potential for deep geothermal energy in Scotland: study volume 1.

Gillespie, M R, Crane, E J, and Barron, H F. 2013. Potential for deep geothermal energy in Scotland: study volume 2.

Gonzalez Quiros, A, MacAllister, Donald J, MacDonald, A, Palumbo-Roe, B, Bearcock, J, O Dochartaigh, B, Callaghan, E, Kearsey, T, Walker-Verkuil, K, and Monaghan, A. 2024. De-risking green energy from mine waters by developing a robust hydrogeological conceptual model of the UK Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow. Hydrogeology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-024-02778-y

Jones, D J R, Randles, T, Kearsey, T, Pharaoh, T C, and Newell, A. 2023. Deep geothermal resource assessment of early Carboniferous limestones for Central and Southern Great Britain. Geothermics, Vol. 109, 102649. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2023.102649

Monaghan, A A, Starcher, V, Barron, H F, Shorter, K, Walker-Verkuil, K, Elsome, J, Kearsey, T, Arkley, S, Hannis, S, and Callaghan, E. 2022. Drilling into mines for heat: geological synthesis of the UK Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow and implications for mine water heat resources. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Vol. 55(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2021-033

Monaghan, A A, Bateson, L, Boyce, A J, Burnside, N M, Chambers, R, de Rezende, R, Dunnet, E,  Everett, P A, Gilfillan, S M V, Jibrin, M S, Johnson, G, Luckett, R, MacAllister, D J, MacDonald, A M, Moreau, J W, Newsome, L, Novellino, A, Palumbo-Roe, B, Pereira, R, Smith, D, Spence, M J, Starcher, V, Taylor-Curran, H, Vane, C H, Wagner, T and Walls, D B. 2022. Time zero for net zero: a coal mine baseline for decarbonising heat. Earth Science, Systems and Society, Vol. 2, 10054. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/esss.2022.10054

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Pharaoh, T, Jones, D, Kearsey, T, Newell, A, Abesser, C, Randles, T, Patton, A, and Kendall, R. 2021. Early Carboniferous limestones of southern and central Britain: characterisation and preliminary assessment of deep geothermal prospectivity. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, Vol. 172(3), 227–249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1127/zdgg/2021/0282

Rollin, K.E. 1987. Catalogue of geothermal data for the land area of the United Kingdom. Third revision: April 1987. Investigation of the Geothermal Potential of the UK. British Geological Survey report WJ/GE/87/007.

• Open-loop GSHP screening tool (England and Wales)
• Heat stored in Britain’s abandoned coal mines (BGS and Coal Authority)

• Unlocking the deep geothermal energy potential of the Carboniferous Limestone Supergroup by Darren Jones (2021)
• UK legacy geothermal catalogue released in digital format for the first time – British Geological Survey (bgs.ac.uk)
• The heat beneath our feet: BGS field visit to Tuscan geothermal systems – British Geological Survey