Work will begin on the site in autumn 2018. The research at the observatory aims to contribute to an understanding of the potential for warm water in disused coal mines to be used for renewable heat.
The observatory is one of two sites proposed in the £31 million UK Geoenergy Observatories investment led by the Natural Environment Research Council, the UK’s leading funder for environmental sciences, and the British Geological Survey (BGS), the UK’s principal provider of impartial geological evidence since 1835.
The Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site will enable the UK science community to study the geothermal environment just below the Earth’s surface.
The field site will feature a number of boreholes of various depths, which will enable research into the area’s geology, underground water systems and the potential for mine water geothermal heat.
Measurements will be taken from the boreholes, such as temperature, water movement and water chemistry. Environmental baseline monitoring of near-surface chemistry, gases and waters will also be measured. The research will be carried out over an extended period of time, around 15 years.
The observatory will be open to the whole of the UK science community to undertake research. Continuous data from state-of-the-art sensors will feed from the boreholes to an online portal that will be open, free and accessible to the public, government, regulators, academia, and industry.
Tracey Shimmield, co-director of the Lyell Centre, BGS (Scotland), said: “This investment will further our understanding of how our former industrial legacy could be utilised to help support Scotland’s heat demands in the future. The Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site will enable us to better understand this environment, its characteristics, and the potential for warm water within our disused coal mines to be used practically as a source of renewable heat.”
Professor Zoe Shipton, Professor of Geological Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, and chair of the Science Advisory Group for the observatories, said: “One of our biggest climate change challenges is how to decarbonise our heat. We need to develop low-carbon heat sources that are safe, reliable, affordable and close to the consumer. More than likely this means that they will come from below our towns and cities.
“The research at the UK Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow will contribute a vital body of evidence on what the potential solutions are and how to do them safely and with minimal impact on the environment.”
Councillor Anna Richardson, City Convener for sustainability and carbon reduction at Glasgow City Council, said: “We can all look forward to the creation of this exciting geothermal observatory in Glasgow, which will explore how we can use natural resources to supply heat to the city in an environmentally-sustainable way.
“If the observatory’s research findings show that we can old use mine workings to generate heat, then we will enjoy substantial economic, environmental and social benefits from the project as Glasgow’s past powers its future.”
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