The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has welcomed a recent report to the Overview and Scrutiny Board (11 October 16) which confirms that Oldham Council will be supporting a bid for money to investigate the possibility of tapping heat from disused coal mines.
Councillor Sykes said: “Exactly two years ago in full Council I asked the then Leader of the Council to commission a study with the other Leaders of the Greater Manchester authorities to explore the potential of this power source across the county.”
“I first became aware of that geothermic energy might be a viable possibility in Oldham when I read about the exciting plans in Scotland.”
In late 2013, the Scottish Government published a study that identified that as much as a third of the heat needed to keep Scotland warm could be provided by tapping geothermal energy from old coal mines across the central belt.
In Council, Councillor Sykes pointed out at the time that the Oldham borough shares a rich coal mining heritage and that the many former coal mines may give off residual ground-source heat that could form part of the borough’s renewable energy strategy.
Oldham Council has just agreed that this possibility is worth investigating. The Council will be supporting a bid to Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Institute) for £200K of funding to carry out feasibility work to look at the potential of ground source heat from disused coal mines to supply district heat networks.
Councillor Sykes added: “Although it has taken two years, I am pleased that the Council has finally decided to take forward my suggestion. Let us hope that this leads to some concrete proposals that will help make Oldham a greener borough.”
Link to report (see section 2.9): http://committees.oldham.gov.uk/documents/s73866/OS%20October%2016%20-%20Climate%20change%20and%20Brexit.pdf
Copy of my question: Council 22 Oct 14 – Leader Question 3: Geothermic Heat
My final question concerns geothermic heat; that is heat sourced from below ground to heat homes. Let us be clear from the outset – I am not referring to fracking.
The Times reported recently that a 350-million year old volcano located deep beneath Stoke-on-Trent could help to heat more than a thousand homes. On reading this article I naturally checked the facts as my first thought was that this must be a late-running April Fools’ Day joke.
But no; Stoke-on-Trent City Council has prepared a business case to drill a 2.5km borehole to an aquifer in which the water is heated naturally to at least 85C (185F). This heat would be transferred to the surface to heat homes and the Government has pledged £20million to fund it. This got me thinking.
It is unlikely that Oldham sits on an ancient volcano, but we do have a rich coal mining heritage (as those amongst you who have seen the 19th Century photographic panorama of the town centre in Gallery Oldham will know).
So I wondered do former coal mines give off residual ground-source heat which we could possibly utilise as part of the borough’s renewable energy strategy? And guess what they DO…. The Herald in Scotland reported in November 2013 that:
“As much as a third of the heat needed to keep Scotland warm could be provided by tapping geothermal energy from old coal mines across the central belt, a major new study for the Scottish Government has concluded.
“Warm water piped up from abandoned mine shafts between Glasgow and Edinburgh and in Ayrshire and Fife could help heat many thousands of homes and other buildings for decades, researchers said. They are urging ministers to embark on an ambitious attempt to make geothermal energy a major new source of clean, renewable power within a few years”.
As Oldham is far from unique in historically sourcing power from coal, would the Leader be agreeable to looking to commission with the other Leaders of the Greater Manchester Authorities a study of the potential of this power source across our county?