Novel Mine Water Heat/Energy Recovery System Demonstrator

The aim of this project is the implementation of a novel heat/energy recovery demonstrator to show the effective use of mine water runoff to heat a local system. This first-of-its-kind system aims to demonstrate the technical, commercial, and financial feasibility of using surface-level heat pump systems utilising mine water from a water treatment site.

While recovering heat from mine water using boreholes to access heated water at depth is a proven technology, the development of surface-level, small-scale systems that can be scaled has not been implemented. These novel systems are projected to be ten times cheaper due to lower installation and running costs. This will then creating a range of commercially and technically viable opportunities across South West Wales and beyond.

Heating accounts for about 37% of total UK carbon emissions when including industrial processes. Research by the Coal Authority and Ordnance Survey estimates there are just over 6 million homes and over 300,000 offices and businesses above abandoned coal mines across the UK. Many of these regions are also areas of fuel poverty.

The urban areas in South West Wales coal mining area is one of these regions with a population of over 700,000 people living above old coalfield areas (Sheffield Hallam University Report 2019).

The development of low-cost modular systems that use mine water for energy or heat would unlock a sustainable, secure, and low-carbon heat resource for many local homes, offices, industries, and agricultural sites across South West Wales and across the UK.

The aim of this project is to explore, demonstrate and start the adoption of this potentially very exciting source of low cost and environmentally sustainable energy and heating in a way that has local and national environmental, economic and social benefits.