London oil and gas firm agrees to establish green heating energy hub

UK Oil & Gas PLC has announced it has signed a Heads of Terms with Ceraphi Energy Ltd to enter into a joint venture to develop part of the Company’s Horse Hill site into a geothermal energy hub.

The GeoHub is targeted to generate and supply more than 200,000 megawatt hours per year of continuous baseload, primarily as heat energy. The project’s first phase would aim to supply significant industrial end-users in the locality with 100 per cent green heating and cooling plus ancillary green electricity and/or hydrogen.

The GeoHub concept centres around six new deep geothermal boreholes utilising Ceraphi’s proprietary “closed-loop” downhole heat exchanger technology, designed to transfer heat from the surrounding hot rocks via heat pumps to the surface.

Unlike most conventional geothermal wells, the closed-loop system requires no injection or circulation of water within the rocks between boreholes, eliminating the possibility of induced seismic activity.

As in established heat networks, heat from the GeoHub would be delivered to the end user via a small diameter hot water pipe and heat pump system. Subject to necessary permissions, further wells and/or sites could be added at any stage to supply a wider spectrum of end users.

It is hoped that current oil production at the site would continue to the end of economic life and then boreholes would be repurposed to add further geothermal baseload, transitioning the site into 100 per cent renewable energy provision.

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG’s chief executive commented: “It makes perfect sense for the UK to harness the abundant green heat energy beneath our feet to heat, cool and power our homes and industry.

“The GeoHub’s weather independent target baseload is firmly in line with both the UK government’s “build back greener” strategy for net-zero and the Company’s ambition to transition its UK assets into sustainable green energy hubs. We look forward to working with Ceraphi to further define and deliver the project.”