Mine water heat research and development

We design and deliver our own R&D and also support researchers and academics who are studying mine water heat. We use the data to support evidence based decision making and our understanding of how mine water heat schemes interact and change the subsurface environment.

The Coal Authority is currently building a mine water heat ‘Living Lab’. This Living Lab will comprise of several monitoring boreholes located between operational mine water heat schemes in north east England. Initial boreholes are already generating new data and monitoring the subsurface. This will be one of the only locations in the World where it will be possible to study the interaction between mine water heat schemes. The boreholes contain sensors capable of obtaining hourly measurements of water levels and water temperatures and also offer the potential for collection of mine water samples for chemical analysis. The data generated from the Living Lab will be made fully open access, supporting operators, regulators, developers, researchers and academics who are working on mine water heat.

Supporting researchers and academics

Across Great Britain there is a significant research community looking at aspects of mine water for its use in heating, cooling and intersessional storage. Where projects align with our vision for mine water heat we often supply letters of support to accompany funding proposals. The Coal Authority also provides data and information to researchers via our data solutions team and can, where safe to do so, provide access to sites for monitoring and data collection.

We have provided access agreements that have enabled the British Geological Survey to operate their UKGEOS mine water observatory in Glasgow, which provides infrastructure to test and monitor the use of mine water for heating, cooling and storage.

We have also provided letters of support to several large research projects including; the University of Strathclyde who are looking at how heat can be stored using existing shafts in mine workings as part of a project called ‘STEaM’; the University of Edinburgh who’s project ‘Galleries to Calories’ hopes to understand how heat can be both stored and transported in mine workings, and  Durham Energy Institute who’s project ‘GEMS’ has already produced toolkits and computer models to help support mine water heat schemes.

We recognise the value of undertaking a wide range of research and development in to mine water heat, to help maximise the potential. If you would like to know more about how we can support your research and development, please contact us.