Home » Banchory Deep Geothermal Heat Network
- February 01, 2016
Date: Jun 2015 – Feb 2016
Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Client: Private & Public Sector
Stage: Pre-feasibility
In partnership with Cluff Geothermal, the Hill of Banchory ESCO and other partners, TRE evaluated the potential for producing 75 – 90°C water from 2 – 3 km depth in the Hill of Fare granite pluton in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The hot water would be providing supplementary heat into the Hill of Banchory district heating network which currently utilises a biomass heat centre.
TRE contributed thermal conductivity filed sampling, laboratory analysis and risk register and mitigation actions.
The report demonstrated technological feasibility, although with a significant degree of uncertainty in the productivity of the pluton at depth due to lack of local deep borehole data. The entire feasibility study can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/03/6881.
Unfortunately, the cost of heat supply from the geothermal resource was estimated to be higher than the current cost of heat from the biomass heat centre, due to local arrangements with biomass fuel suppliers. The project may be reopened in the future following an expansion in the heat network, or a rise in the cost of biomass.