Geothermal Energy

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 15th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I thank the hon. Member for Midlothian (Owen Thompson) for setting the scene and, in doing so, giving us the chance to participate in the debate. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan), who is clearly knowledgeable on this subject.

Across the United Kingdom, we see a growth in businesses with methodologies and ways of harnessing renewable energy. There is an exhibition at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre about Northern Ireland’s centenary and about businesses in Northern Ireland. I was about to tell the hon. Member for Midlothian about one of those businesses, which is not geothermal but it is in the renewable sector, but he was called to speak and I did not get the chance to tell him much.

The business is not just about harnessing renewable energy, but storing it. It is called the Electric Storage Company and Chris Doherty, its programme manager, told me how it can galvanise renewable energy and store it in a battery system for such times as it can be used on the grid. Again, this is innovative, thought-provoking and workable. I have to say that, in all honesty, I do not have a lot of knowledge of what the hon. Member for Midlothian has presented today, but I like to learn. Even though I might be of an age, that does not mean that I do not want to learn. I learn something every day, and today, by listening to other speakers, especially the hon. Gentleman, I have learned a wee bit. I have also done a wee bit of research about geothermal energy in order the understand how it works.

I have always had a particular interest in green energy. As everyone knows, I represent the Strangford constituency, the door to which is the Strangford lough, which the constituency is named after and which used to have a SeaGen tidal turbine. At one stage, it was said to be large enough to meet the electricity needs of one large town or perhaps a couple of large villages close by. The Electric Storage Company has told me today that it is discussing how the sea turbine in Strangford lough can be put to better use. Queen’s University Belfast, through its biology station in Portaferry, has been instrumental in that process. This is about having really good ideas, being visionary for the future and making those possibilities real. With SeaGen, we have the potential to become less reliant on overseas production and more reliant on what God has given us—a reliable, twice-daily tide and strong undersea currents. The Electric Storage Company says that it is about harnessing nature’s energy, and that is also true of the project referred to by the hon. Gentleman.

Although we cannot write a blank cheque to fund research into renewable energy, we must still invest in producing energy that does not harm this beautiful country. Geothermal energy is one such approach and it has massive potential to reduce the impact on the countryside that we love. I am not as knowledgeable on the subject as the hon. Gentleman, but I am intrigued enough to want to know more and understand how it can be used to help the environment.

In the deep subsurface of the Earth, ground temperatures are no longer affected by the sun but result from heat that is generated from the Earth’s interior. That reminds me of the film, “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”, which Members are probably familiar with. I am of a vintage that can remember when it first came out many years ago. That was science fiction, but today we are looking at things that are possible, and I believe that this is one such thing.

Ground temperatures increase with depth—around 2.7°C per 100 metre depths in the UK. The feasibility of extracting this heat depends on several factors, including the availability of feasible geology, whether the target temperature can be reached at economically drillable depths, and whether the geothermal source is located near areas of heating demand, such as cities. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis), who has just left the Chamber, referred to coalmining, as did the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich and others. The main party spokespersons will probably refer to it, too.

Extracting heat requires the drilling of deep boreholes of 1 km to 3 km for use in heating, and of up to 5 km for electricity generation. Deep geothermal plants can provide heat directly to high-temperature district heating networks without the need for a heat pump. Individual plants can provide heat for thousands to tens of thousands of households. Let us not underestimate the impact and possibilities of this particular energy resource. Although this seems to be the stuff of science fiction films, there are Members in this Chamber, including the Minister, who are blessed with the ability to make the resources meet people’s needs. We must give them the opportunity to do so.

The hon. Member for Midlothian referred to people in his area, which I will refer to towards the end of my speech. I told him earlier—and I meant it—that I am always impressed by the ingenuity across the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Scotland has on many occasions given us food for thought on what we can use elsewhere. That is what I see in this project; it is a way forward.

The Library briefing, which is always helpful, has produced some interesting statistics on geothermal energy. In 2017, a study estimated that the UK had enough resource theoretically available to easily surpass all its energy demand in 2015. Wow—that is a big statement to make, but even if that is halfway true, it is something we cannot ignore. It has potential and possibility, and we need to chase it up.

The amount technically available was much smaller than the theoretical resource, of course, and recovery would depend on depths drilled and areas targeted, but there is potential, and we need more investigation of this matter to better gauge what we can get out of it and how we harness that.

Similarly, in 2018,

“a study estimated that the available heat from deep geothermal resources (sedimentary basins, ancient warm granites) and flooded mines”,

which some hon. Members have referred to, could be,

“equivalent to approximately 100 years heat supply for the entire UK.”

We have only ever had two mines that I am aware of in Northern Ireland, one a coal mine and one a salt mine, so our potential here may not be great, but there is potential and it cannot be ignored.

I have been excited by the plans to build a large-scale renewable energy park in Aberdeenshire, which the hon. Member for Midlothian referred to and which I know the SNP spokesperson, the hon. Member for Inverclyde (Ronnie Cowan), will mention as well—designed to deliver up to 200 MW of environmentally friendly power to the Scottish grid. I am anxious to see the results of that, but I am concerned, and I am happy to put this on record—I hope the hon. Member for Midlothian does not mind my saying so—that the funding for it is coming from Chinese investment.

I will not say I am against the idea of Chinese investment, but I suspect that everything China does has an ulterior motive. When it comes to this particular project, as I have said to the hon. Gentleman, who is also a friend and whom I support in many of his debates in this House, I believe we should be beholden to no one, especially not the Chinese. I was pleased today to see that we in this House have told the Chinese ambassador that if our MPs and peers cannot go to China, he cannot eat his sweet and sour pork in this House either. I am particularly pleased about that—maybe that is facetious, or maybe I digress, but it makes my point.

We must be able to resource these projects with British funding. I have seen plans for new energy formats coming to Northern Ireland, and there is a real fear of the unknown. The Government must lead the way in looking into this new way of doing things, so I look to the SNP spokesperson, the shadow Minister—the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead)—and ultimately I look forward to hearing from the Minister. I believe we have the potential to supply our own energy, relying on external influences, and we must invest in ourselves, in our potential and in every part of this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—always better together, we can work forward together and do well together.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Whitehead]

The hon. Gentleman is right. According to what has already been mapped and known about via the British Geological Survey and other agencies, it so happens that every Member present this afternoon has a constituency right on top of an area of sedimentary laid-down rock associated with aquifers, all of which are ideal for deep geothermal exploitation. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is not actually on a sedimentary rock formation but is next door to one. His efforts could be directed at persuading his neighbouring Members of Parliament to get going on geothermal projects just down the road from his constituency.

[Jim Shannon]

Although I might not be able to claim specifically for Strangford, I can say that all of Northern Ireland should take advantage of where those opportunities are. This debate is about how we can all do it better together. If we can do that, we can all gain an advantage.

[Dr Whitehead]

Indeed. The other point I would make about availability is that we are not just talking about sedimentary rocks. As we know from Cornwall, we are talking about hot rocks, granite batholith formations, which can extract heat just as effectively for geothermal energy. That is the geology lesson over and done with.

As hon. Members have mentioned, we have this tremendous resource in front of us in the UK. In a recent report, the Renewable Energy Association estimated that if we delivered, say, 12 heat projects per year over the next 30 years, the UK could expect to generate up to 50,000 GWh of heat annually by 2050 and about 400 GWe—a huge contribution, in particular to net zero energy extraction and use. As hon. Members have said, geothermal is about the cleanest energy configuration that we can think of. It is infinitely renewable and completely reliable, as it just carries on producing the heat and electricity for ever and a day once it is in place.

We have a tremendous resource, but we have heard about the frankly isolated projects going on in this country. As far as the development of geothermal is concerned, they continue to be isolated. The hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan) mentioned just how many projects are already under way in the rest of Europe—hundreds of projects in Germany, dozens of projects in France, a lot of projects in Italy. They are way ahead of us in exploiting this resource.

That is my particular concern. Over a number of years, we have dragged our feet on getting going on geothermal. I am sorry to say that the last incentive in Government support for geothermal energy development expired in March 2021, with the ending of the renewable heat incentive commercial and industrial element assistance. As far as I know, although the Minister might helpfully be able to disabuse me of what I am about to say, nothing else is planned for the immediate future. The Energy White Paper certainly made no mention of geothermal energy, other than an inset about some mine water extraction about halfway through. That is a terrible omission given the depth of the resource that we know we have, the relative ease of exploitation and the tremendous benefits that would come from such exploitation.

I want to say to the Minister—I hope and trust that she will still be the Minister at the end of this afternoon’s proceedings although, more likely, she will still be a Minister, but in a much more elevated position—assuming that I am still talking to her tomorrow, that when she goes back to the Department and looks at the progress of the heat and buildings strategy, which I think is still being discussed and not quite out yet, but almost ready to go, she should jump up and down, and thump on the table, and insist that the strategy contains a serious planning mention of the role that geothermal energy can play in the process over the next period. As we have heard this afternoon, it could play a tremendous role. It would be simply unthinkable if, over the next few years, we were not to exploit that resource to the best of our ability, because we need to—for net zero purposes, for clean energy purposes, and for local energy that does the business for local communities from what is absolutely under their feet as they go about their business.

I am sure that the Minister will be able to respond to me positively, to say that that is what she will do pretty immediately, at the end of our proceedings this afternoon; because the Opposition, at least, are wholly committed to the idea that geothermal should take its rightful place in the UK’s energy economy. I hope that the Minister not only shares that commitment, but is willing and able to make that commitment a reality within the next few years.