Hot water from disused gas wells could be used to heat Pickering's swimming pool, business and homes.
The Pickering Town Community Interest Company has been awarded a £36,000 grant from the Shared Prosperity Fund to assess the viability of using both existing redundant gas wells located near to the town as well as new boreholes to heat water for the entire town.
Russell Hoare is MD of Third Energy - the firm that owns the wells at Kirby Misperton, he explains how the idea came about.
Working with CeraPhi Energy, the UK’s leading geothermal engineering company, the work will build on an assessment already conducted by CeraPhi into decarbonising the Pickering Swimming and Fitness Centre, work that was completed in late 2023 and funded through a grant from the UK Government’s Heat Networks Delivery Unit.
Russell says the idea is to use the excess heated water to deliver heat to people's homes.
This new study will consider a hub-and-spoke approach to cover as much of the geographical footprint of the town as possible. The southern geothermal hub will incorporate both new wells and two of Third Energy’s existing wells that are located about 1.5 km south of the town.
In addition to the swimming pool and fitness centre, the study will also incorporate residential properties, businesses, local schools and other public buildings.
Mike Potter, CIC Board Member said
"I have been working with Third Energy on the repurposing of their redundant gas infrastructure for several years.
Converting this infrastructure for sustainable energy usage to the benefit of the town in the form of lower energy costs but with a significantly smaller carbon footprint is a very exciting possibility.
Having CeraPhi Energy involved means we have some of the UK's leading geothermal engineers assisting us with the assessment."
Russell Hoare explains how the redundant gas wells will be used to bring geothermal heat to people's homes.
Using geothermal heat for a community heat network could result in a sustainable and virtually carbon-free heating solution and should also significantly reduce ongoing heating costs for any business or customers connected to the network.
Russell says the initial feasibility study will take a few months to complete but if that goes well then he thinks work on building the system could start in as little as a year.
Russell says the feasibility study will involve talking to local residents to figure out what benefits the scheme could bring to local people.
CeraPhi Energy acquired the business of Third Energy Limited, a former shale gas development company, in February this year with plans to repurpose it's existing wells into clean geothermal energy centres.
The assets located in North Yorkshire UK, include 8 well sites consisting of 12 former gas wells in a suspended state, 22.4 km of 6-inch and 16.6 km of 3-inch subterranean pipelines and a further 22.4 km of buried fibre optic comms lines.
Gary Williams, COO of CeraPhi Energy said
“Combining Third Energy’s assets and local knowledge with our geothermal engineering skills means we can provide a bespoke heat network solution for the town of Pickering.
This builds on the recent geothermal demonstrator well we operated on one of the Third Energy wells near Kirby Misperton and the work we have already done on the Pickering Swimming and Fitness Centre in town and we look forward to taking this project forward with the CIC.”
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