Agricultural Heating and Anaerobic Digestion from Deep Borehole Geothermal Energy

This project is being proposed by M Ward & Son of Wellfield Farm in Great Habton as we try to develop opportunities to diversify our farming practices and become more sustainable. Our scope will consist of three separate feasibility elements. Starting with an assessment of an innovative geothermal heat/AD combined system, we will identifying the contributions which geothermal heat can have on the AD process, the appropriate infrastructure needed to connect these two assets and the appropriately sized AD for the location, feedstock and geothermal heat available. Secondly, we will undertake a feedstock survey to identify locally available feedstock and its suitability for AD, (e.g. calorific value). Finally, we will identify potential uses for the excess heat including local agricultural heat requirements, greenhouse crops which would match heat supply and other potential heat users (e.g. shrimp/fish farming, mushrooms, insect/protein farming).

This project will provide a blueprint for using Net Zero solutions for agricultural heat and energy requirements while utilising surplus heat and energy to create additional opportunities to diversify current farming practices and become more environmentally and financially sustainable.

In addition to ourselves, the three work scopes above will involve the following partners and contractors:

1.The Biorenewables Development Centre ("BDC" at the University of York) for review of geothermal systems and case studies and Ceraphi Energy Ltd ("Ceraphi") a leading geothermal engineer and developer;

2.NNFCC for the feedstock assessment; and

3.District Eating ("DE") for the end user assessments.

The well owner, Third Energy will be providing the Innovation Manager ("IM") who, together with the above contributors, will provide a broad range of expertise and skills to the project.

By identifying ways to efficiently use renewable heat for growing new produce or livestock, it will give our farm and others a way to build a resilient business as we are impacted by climate change and new farming policy. By completing these studies, we would be able to develop in-situ waste to energy solutions and make them more environmentally friendly using renewable heat, we would know what feedstock is available in the local area and determine the processes most profitable for our farm. This could then be adopted locally or be used nationally where there are other redundant wells (or indeed the capacity to drill geothermal wells).