Turn Cornwall into industrial zone for net zero, Miliband urged
Britain's favourite holiday county and the broader South West of England have been deemed an energy 'super-region', meaning its geology is suited to a raft of new energy-based industries.
The hot volcanic rocks lying below parts of Cornwall and Devon make them a top prospect for geothermal energy, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS), which advises the Government on the country's earth science.
'Deep geothermal resources alone could provide enough energy to satisfy the UK's heating needs for at least 100 years,' the quango said.
The brines found in many of Cornwall's abandoned mines are also rich in lithium, a mineral essential for making batteries.
Meanwhile, Dorset offers the potential for energy storage with rocks suitable for creating caverns to store natural gas or hydrogen, according to the quango. There are already separate plans to create such caverns under Portland Harbour, Britain's former biggest naval base.
'South-west England has significant deep geothermal resources offering opportunities for sustainable heat and power generation,' the BGS said.
'The region's sedimentary basins provide potential sites for carbon capture and storage (CCS), energy storage and geothermal projects … the region is well placed to support the UK's decarbonisation plans.'
The Eden Project near St Austell already exploits the region's natural advantages, keeping visitors warm using heat extracted from rocks 3.3-miles beneath its surface.
However, the idea of expanding such schemes into a major industry in a county valued for its coastlines, landscapes and tourism is likely to face opposition.
The South West is one of several areas whose geology the BGS suggests could support the move to net zero. Others include Northern Ireland, central Scotland, northern England and East Anglia.
'These geological super regions contain subsurface formations and conditions that are favourable to multiple different technologies within a relatively small area,' it said.
The Scottish Central Belt is also deemed to be a rich source of geothermal energy with warm underground strata easily accessible via the region's many abandoned coal mines.
Michelle Bentham, BGS chief scientist for decarbonisation and resource management, said: 'In Europe, geothermal energy is used much more widely. In the UK, we don't use it as widely and it's always been a bit of a Cinderella of clean energy technologies.'
The BGS said careful planning for such technologies in these areas could help unlock an estimated £40bn of annual investment and support the Government's target of creating 650,000 jobs through renewable energy by 2030.
Ms Bentham added: 'In the North Sea, we could potentially become a hub for carbon storage in Europe for countries that don't have the right geology who are trying to decarbonise.'
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