Plans to tap into abandoned mine network to heat homes at new housing development near Seaham

A pioneering project to use heat generated within abandoned mines has been highlighted as maps showing other locations have been revealed.
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A quarter of the UK’s population live above abandoned coal mines, which are warmed by natural geothermal processes, the Coal Authority said.

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Where the mines are flooded, the mine water can be used as a sustainable heat source for district heating systems that could replace conventional gas boilers for heating and hot water in homes and other buildings.

Seaham Garden Village will be built at Dawdon.Seaham Garden Village will be built at Dawdon.
Seaham Garden Village will be built at Dawdon.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) and Coal Authority have released an interactive map showing where the mines are and the extent to which temperatures increase with depth and will be available to developers, planners and researchers to identify opportunities.

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The Government has set out plans for around one in five buildings to use a largely low carbon district heat network by 2050, and disused mines could be a source of heat for such projects.

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Earlier this year, Gateshead Council secured a £5.9 million grant to double its district heating network, including installing technology to extract heat from water in underground mine workings.

The Coal Authority’s head of innovation, Jeremy Crooks, said: “When miners were working in hot, dusty conditions, they would not have known that their efforts and the heat they worked in, would one day create a sustainable source of energy for hundreds of years to come.

“We are currently reviewing over 30 potential heat network opportunities using geothermal mine energy.

“Seaham Garden Village and Gateshead are the first two such schemes to secure funding from the Government’s £320 million Heat Network Investment Programme, with others to follow.

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“It’s ironic that mining coal, a fossil fuel, would provide access to a low carbon, clean air, energy source that will last far longer than the 200 years of intensive mining that created this opportunity.”

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