Cornwall Council Approves Geothermal Power Plant in the U.K.

The Cornwall Council of the U.K. has given approval for the first utility-scale geothermal power plant of the country near Redruth.

This plant, developed by a company called Geothermal Engineering, will have 55 MW capacity of renewable heat energy as well as 10 MW capacity of electrical energy after it becomes operational by the year 2013, as indicated by New Energy Focus.

This approval means that Geothermal Engineering can drill three wells at a depth of 4.5 km at the industrial estate of United Downs. Work on this project is likely to commence in early 2011.

This plant is likely to offer heat energy for the local region and sufficient electrical energy that could be fed directly into the national grid for powering 20,000 homes. In December 2009, the Department of Energy and Climate Change awarded £1.475 million to Geothermal Engineering for this project. The company needs to raise funds for meeting the £40-million development expense.