Geothermal Energy

Jonathan Gullis Excerpts

Wednesday 15th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. Thank you for being so kind in allowing me to speak early and leave early in order to deal with childcare, which I found out about before I came to the Chamber.

I commend the hon. Member for Midlothian (Owen Thompson) for securing this critical debate. I want to use this opportunity to celebrate the fact that we have a united front here. Who would have thought that the Scottish nationalist party—I know they hate me calling them that—and the Conservative party could be united in the belief that geothermal is of huge potential? I do not want to have a colliery-off with the hon. Gentleman, but if we want any colliery, we have to look at Chatterley Whitfield colliery in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, which is the largest complete deep coalmine site in the whole of Europe and was the first colliery in the United Kingdom to produce 1 million tonnes of coal, not just once but twice. If you ever want to come to visit it for a heritage visit, Mr Robertson, let me know, and the Chatterley Whitfield Friends will certainly give you a tour.

Geothermal energy could be a key element of our future energy supply, but it could hold even greater importance, as the hon. Gentleman said earlier, in ex-coalmining areas, such as the one I am proud to serve in in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke. Those coalfield communities are often overflowing with geothermal energy potential, and I am pleased to say that the same is true not just in Stoke-on-Trent but in the whole of north Staffordshire.

I want to focus on one site in the constituency—Chatterley Whitfield colliery. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon) will be talking about geothermal potential in her constituency. Stoke-on-Trent should absolutely be a test bed when it comes to this energy sector. Chatterley Whitfield colliery is currently a sleeping giant. It used to be a powerhouse for the coal industry, and it now has the potential to be at the forefront of the UK’s green industrial revolution. Discussions with the Coal Authority have revealed that the site has exciting geothermal potential, and infrastructure already exists on the site that could help with the development of a mine energy project, which could provide heat and energy for the local area.

Attached to the complete site is not just the colliery but a 10-hectare piece of land that was formerly brownfield but has become greenfield. If we get geothermal right, I do not see any reason why we could not build 300 or 400 houses on it that would be powered from the colliery that sits next door to it, giving people of Stoke-on-Trent the opportunity, and the Government the test bed they need, to show what geothermal can do in such an area.

The mine energy project would recover heat from below ground level, and with the help of a heat pump bring it to the surface. Based on early discussions with the Coal Authority, an initial pump is expected to deliver 1 MW of thermal output—enough to power 500 homes. That would build on the district heating network that Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been working on to bring low-maintenance, affordable heating to thousands of properties and businesses through a network of underground pipes that will harness the deep geothermal energy that lies more than 3 km beneath the surface of Stoke-on-Trent.

One of the main benefits of that source of heating is that it removes the need for traditional boilers, in line with the shift away from boilers, and has no risk of carbon monoxide. Chatterley Whitfield has an important role to play in our geothermal future, and Councillors Dave Evans, Carl Edwards and James Smith of Baddeley Green, Milton and Norton, Councillor Janine Bridges of Great Chell and Packmoor, and the Chatterley Whitfield Friends have been working to draw up a plan for the future of the site. Exciting discussions are under way about the site’s future, including how to preserve Chatterley Whitfield’s industrial heritage for education and tourism. If we harness the vast energy that lies beneath that silent colossus, and the vast potential of the site above ground, we can ensure it remains at the heart of Stoke-on-Trent’s story.

The Minister will have heard my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan) in Prime Minister’s questions today urging the Prime Minister to look at the idea of a long-term fixed tariff like we see in mainland Europe, which is unlocking millions of pounds of private capital. I want to support my hon. Friend in that, because ultimately if we do that, we give the protection that the private sector needs to heavily invest and unlock the potential. That means that we do not have to keep knocking on the Treasury’s door but can harness the ability of the private sector to do what it does best and find solutions to our problems.