Return of the mines ...as source of green energy

A pilot project being planned at the National Coal Mining Museum, sited in a disused colliery at Overton, near Wakefield, involves using naturally warm water from flooded mine tunnels to heat the buildings above.

Experts say the technology could potentially be rolled out across the region to heat thousands of buildings in areas close to former coal mines, slashing carbon emissions.

Speaking at a conference at the coal mining museum yesterday, regional Minister for Yorkshire Rosie Winterton said: "I do think it would be an excellent legacy for our Yorkshire miners if the heat from the water in the mine tunnels they dug out could produce low-cost, clean heat supplies for their former pit villages in the future.

"It's a very exciting project because it takes the history of our region and all the work that so many thousands of miners did, and asks how we can use that in the future to have renewable energy."

Many coal mines flood naturally with large volumes of water entering the tunnels from deep underground. This water has a natural temperature of up to 30C or more. A significant number of mines already have systems in place to pump out minewater.

The heat of the minewater could be transferred to clean water and pumped into nearby buildings for use in radiators, sinks, baths and showers.

The water temperature would be raised to around 45C with ground source heat pumps and given a further boost when required with solar panels or a gas or electric boiler.

This top-up using traditional fossil fuels means such schemes would probably not be zero-carbon, but scientists say a minewater-heated building would still see its carbon emissions for heating cut by between 50 and 80 per cent. Robin Curtis, technical director of UK geothermal heating firm Earth Energy, said: "The size of the resource is phenomenal."

Keith Parker of the UK Coal Authority estimates there is potentially up to 160 megawatts of heating available in Yorkshire, and up to three gigawatts across the UK – the equivalent of several large power stations.

"And this is a continually renewable source," he added. "As we pump water out of the mines, they fill back up again."

While the potential is there for Yorkshire's mines to help heat thousands of homes, there are difficulties.The buildings must be located close to the flooded mines, as heat cannot be transferred over long distances.

Such systems are also likely to be of much greater benefit to newly-built homes, which are better insulated and so require far lower water temperatures for heating. Experts believe one of minewater's main uses will involve new developments close to disused mines.

A funding bid for the Coal Mining Museum scheme is being drawn up by the museum directors, with a final decision to be made by Ed Miliband's Department of Energy and Climate Change later in the year.

AWARDS ON MENU AT SPECIAL NIGHT

The Yorkshire Post will be holding its annual Environment Awards

evening and dinner at the Queens Hotel, Leeds, next week.

The event on Thursday, March 4 will be hosted by TV presenter Julia Bradbury, and the keynote speaker will be Environment Secretary and Leeds MP Hilary Benn.

A record number of entries have been whittled down for each of the 10 categories.

Tickets, to include a three- course dinner and half-bottle of wine, cost 55 plus VAT. Contact Jayne Lownsbrough on 0113 238 8432 or email [email protected]