Research project to explore geothermal opportunities in Northern Ireland

A research project headed by Ulster University seeks to harness the geothermal energy resources of Northern Ireland, along with other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. This project will be done in collaboration with industry partners and will be funded through Invest NI’s Competence Centre Programme through the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy (CASE).

Ulster University has three industry partners for this project:

• CauseWay Geothermal (NI) Ltd (CausewayGT), a newly formed geothermal energy company, will provide analysis of the geothermal resource and contribute to policy and economic analysis. We had previously reported on the establishment of CausewayGT as a geothermal startup.
• Atlantic Hub Ltd (AtlanticHub) aims to provide data hosing using renewable energy options. They will focus on the energy use and optimization of the project.
• Enisca Ltd (Enisca), an engineering firm, provide front-end mechanical and electrical engineering design and control systems integration of possible prototype systems.

Professor Neil Hewitt, Head of the School of Architecture and Built Environment at Ulster University, has been selected as the principal investigator of the project.

“It is essential that we adopt a partnership approach between academia and industry to deploy research informed solutions to play our part in achieving the target set by the Government of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” said Professor Hewitt. “This partnership launch is timely as nationally, the British Geological Survey has stated that geothermal heating is part of the UK’s net-zero approach, enshrined in COP26.”

Source: Ulster University