Cheshire Observatory is open for research

Scientists in the UK have developed a network of underground observatories to unlock new sources of clean energy.

The past 10 years have seen significantly increased activity in the UK geothermal sector. This has been driven by the need to decarbonise the heating and cooling of buildings, which together account for over a quarter of both UK and global carbon dioxide emissions.

A key factor in expanding our use of geothermal energy is understanding the influence of geology on thermal and environmental performance. The new UK Geoenergy Observatories, located in Cheshire and Glasgow, have been developed by the British Geological Survey to help address these questions and so de-risk investment in shallow geothermal energy. Construction of the latest addition to the network — the Cheshire Observatory — was recently completed and it has now opened its doors for research and innovation activities.

Geothermal energy, which involves harnessing the Earth’s natural heat, has long been recognised as a promising source of renewable energy.

Located at Thornton Science Park within the Cheshire Science Corridor Enterprise Zone, the Cheshire Observatory is a hub for both academic and commercial research. Comprising 21 research boreholes monitoring 130,000 cubic metres of the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer, it is equipped with the latest subsurface monitoring systems, borehole heat exchangers and advanced groundwater flow control.

Geothermal energy, which involves harnessing the Earth’s natural heat, has long been recognised as a promising source of renewable energy. However, effectively tapping into this resource requires a deep understanding of the geological conditions and thermal dynamics of the subsurface environment.

In addition to supporting research into harnessing natural underground heat or aquifer thermal energy to warm homes and businesses, the Cheshire Observatory enables both exploration of ways to reduce harmful emissions by storing them safely, and investigation into ways to store energy from renewable sources underground for use when we need it.

Researchers are using the Cheshire Observatory to answer important questions around the design and upscaling of aquifer geothermal energy schemes, including:

• how should boreholes and geothermal schemes be designed to optimise performance?

• will storing energy underground create problems for other infrastructure?

• how can geothermal systems be designed and monitored to best protect the environment?

By addressing the key challenges of underground energy storage, these research efforts are laying the groundwork for a cleaner, greener future for the UK. The observatory is available to the whole of the UK science community for research, innovation and training activities.

Key capabilities

Mapping of geothermal heat flow in close to real-time

Monitoring the response of the subsurface environment

Optimisation of geothermal scheme design

Pioneering research

Following the successful completion of commissioning trials in March, researchers from the ‘Aquifer thermal energy storage for decarbonisation of heating and cooling’ (ATESHAC) project, funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), have been working at the Cheshire Observatory. ATESHAC is bringing together geoscientists, geoengineers, economists and social scientists to address key technical barriers to the deployment of aquifer thermal energy storage in the UK. They are using the observatory to map heat flow in the underlying Sherwood Sandstone aquifer.

The Cheshire Observatory can address many different science questions. Pilot tests, which will optimise the control and monitoring systems for future research investigations, are planned for later this year. These will include testing of the distributed acoustic sensing systems, which can provide an acoustic image of the subsurface to complement the thermal and electrical imaging capabilities.

Further thermal testing will be carried out towards the end of 2024 under the NERC-funded ‘Smart assessment, management and optimisation of urban geothermal resources’ (SmartRes) project, to explore how temperature change may affect groundwater quality, ecological environments and other sensitive receptors. The test data will be used to create calibrated heat-flow models, which will be used as a ‘numerical laboratory’ to simulate and explore the capacity of urban geothermal and how different installations within a city might interact.

By addressing the key challenges of underground energy storage, these research efforts are laying the groundwork for a cleaner, greener future for the UK. The observatory is available to the whole of the UK science community for research, innovation and training activities. Research studies funded through any source are welcome, including industry-led research and research outside UK Research and Innovation.