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GEOTHERMAL POWER W hen most are asked to think about geothermal power, their minds will most likely turn to Iceland and with good reason. The country sits across one of the earth's great tectonic plate boundaries and, as such, 25 per cent of its electricity demand is supplied by this near limitless geother - mal resource. But geothermal power production is not limited to Iceland. Pioneering deep geothermal projects in France, Germany and across Europe have demonstrated its potential as a viable renewable energy source comparable to wind, solar and tidal power. Better yet, it can be extracted regard - less of the weather, the power as it were, turned off and on to meet demand, like a tap. On 6 November, drilling work began at the United Downs Industrial Estate in St Day in Cornwall, on the UK's first ever deep geother - mal power plant. We anticipate it is only the first step towards making geothermal a viable alternative power source in the UK and of a nascent British industry. Geothermal energy has the potential to supply up to 20 per cent of the UK's heat and electricity needs. This comes at a time when the government has announced plans to close all remaining coal-fired power stations, the last to cease its operations by 2025. In spite of this, geothermal energy remains a largely untapped resource. While the UK has a number of shallow geothermal projects An alternative source of power Drilling has started to build the UK's first deep geothermal electricity plant at the United Downs Industrial Estate near St Day in Cornwall. Dr Ryan Law, managing director of Geothermal Engineering Ltd, provides details of the project and outlines next steps. The geothermal electricity plant will supply up to 3 MWe (Mega Watt electrical) of electricity which is enough energy to power 3,000 homes. NETWORK / 26 / DECEMBER 2018 / JANUARY 2019