Oil and Veg- Exploring the potential for repurposing oil & gas wells for heating protected horticulture

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£83,055

Jan. 1, 2022

March 31, 2022

This project will enable UK based company District Eating Ltd to explore international partnership opportunities to investigate the significant potential for co-location of protected horticulture alongside geothermal energy recovery from former onshore oil and gas wells (OGW).

The work will seek to develop partnerships to measure, maximise, encourage and facilitate energy costs and CO2 emissions reductions for all parties.

Globally, it is estimated that there are 29 million former OGW, some of which could be repurposed to supply heat for power generation, heating and cooling supply. Whilst electricity can be transported relatively cheaply, heat cannot, therefore the economic viability of geothermal heat recovery relies on the presence of significant, sustained heat demands close to the site of extraction. Heating comprises a significant proportion of operating costs of protected horticulture businesses at Northern latitudes. In other cases, controlled environment horticulture requires significant power and/or cooling.

At present, most heat used in protected horticulture is derived from fossil fuels, leading to CO2 emissions. Accessing low carbon geothermal heat, power and/or cooling from repurposed OGW at lower, stabilised costs will provide economic and environmental benefits to horticultural businesses and the operators of former OGW -- a win-win for both parties. Repurposing former OGW for geothermal energy significantly reduces the risk and costs associated with drilling new boreholes, and removes the costs associated with decommissioning boreholes at the end of life.

This project enables the scale of these potential synergies to be developed by exploring the potential for partnership and collaborative working between international specialists in geothermal energy recovery and District Eating Ltd an innovative leader in the recovery of waste heat for protected horticulture.