‘Secret’ Geothermal Energy Under Cardiff Could Heat Every Home

On an inaccessible street in Cardiff, engineering geologist Ashley Patton lifts the lid on what looks like an ordinary drain cover.

But the depth is one of the 234 boreholes, first drilled by the City Council more than 30 years ago, which may now be the key to a revolution in the whole city – and beyond – heated.

Pioneering research has found that traffic activity, businesses, and people in Cardiff’s Streets cause what is defined as “underwater thermal pollution – about 12c (54f).

Since 2014, boreholes – drilled to monitor water levels in the Cardiff Bay Barrage – have been used to British Geological Survey To measure water temperature – the world’s largest urban water survey.

The results are likely to have far-reaching implications for the 124,000 town homes, and properties in the UK.

“I feel like there’s a bit of a hidden knowledge,” Ms Patton said.

“When I go out with friends and family I always say there’s a borehole over there ‘and no one will know about it.”

He pulled a cable from a borehole, plugged it into his laptop, and started taking measurements.

These readings have been taken across the city every half hour for the past 11 years.

While most people have no idea that boreholes are there, they reveal a potentially life-changing source of heat beneath our feet – Geothermal Power.

It is a type of renewable energy that uses the natural heat of the earth to heat homes and businesses or generate electricity.

The data suggests the entire city could be a hot use Residential Financing of Ground Source Pumps to tap it.

“We think we are one of the largest geo-observatories of its kind in the world,” added Ms Patton.

The British Geological Survey is the oldest in the world, and calls its work in Cardiff the world’s largest groundwater survey.

The broken down pumps in the ground are one of many solutions that the UK government is looking at to meet the target of making all new homes built from this year “Zero Carbon-Ready”.

Last year, the Welsh government talked about hot bombs should be installed in most Welsh Homes to meet climate targets.

However, it admits its strategy is the switch be “beyond means” for the most part.

An easy way to think about how to arrange a heat pump function is that it is a refrigerator that reverses.

For ground sour faint pumps, the water is exchanged under the bottom of the pipes and heated under the surrounding water.

This water is passed through a refrigerant liquid, similar to what you find in the back of a home refrigerator.

The refrigerator evaporates and passes through a compressor that raises its temperature.

It fixes the water in another pipe, which can be used for hot showers, radiators or underfloor heating.

The relative stability of groundwater temperatures means that geothermal heat pumps can be more efficient than hot air outside the water in a central heating system.

But they are not as widely used because of the high cost of installing the infrastructure underground.

A new development in the Rhondda Cynon TAF could be a model of how it can overcome this obstacle.

Parc Eirin is a development of over 200 low carbon homes on the outskirts of Tonyrefeil that pioneers a new approach to financing the infrastructure needed for geothermal heating.

Instead of paying for boreholes and installing pipes underground, residents pay a standing fee to connect to the existing system, which is paid by investors in the fund.

“The issue we often find in Wales is that we can struggle to make these methods commercially viable,” said Pictor chief executive David Ward.

“Until now, it used to be smaller, higher end developments that were able to use the ground source.”

The company behind the new funding model is Kensa, which also provides heat pumps inside homes.

Commercial director Wouter Thirijsen believes the Tonyrefail development is a world first.

“The cost of decarbonisation will not fall on the taxpayer here,” he said.

“It falls on private capital full of, which is what we need if we are going to reach the targets that we have.”

The purpose of the plan, according to Mr. Thirijsess, is to make the transition from gas boilers as simple as possible by following how utility companies do.

“It’s just like when you get a gas boiler, you don’t pay for more gas pipes down your street,” he said.

Constable Police Constable Craig Williams, 30, has been living with a ground source heat pump since buying his home in Parc Eirin three years ago.

While he admits that there are “teething issues”, such as not having a valve to back up the pressure when it has a traditional boiler, now believes that every household should have one.

In 2022, the year he moves into his low-carbon home, many UK households are struggling with high energy costs driven by post-pandemic demand and the war in Ukraine.

But Mr Williams found himself taking money from his strong suitors.

“I had a check for about £400,400. I don’t think that happens in many households these days,” he said.

“Everybody gets up, and I save a lot of money.”

Back in Cardiff, Ashley Patton is optimistic that ground source warming may become more common than people realize, and Wales could lead the way.

“I think as Wales once led the industrial revolution with its coal, we can lead a green revolution in greothermal energy.”

The Welsh government says its strategy sets the ambition for decarbodising heating systems and 2050, with key solutions that have a smaller role with a smaller role”.