Firm behind energy plant rejects pollution fears
BBCA proposed geothermal energy plant in North Cornwall is a risk to the environment, opponents have claimed.
Cornwall Council will meet later to decide whether the plans to drill into hot rocks under land in Slaughterbridge near Camelford can go ahead.
People living near the site fear harmful minerals and fluids brought up during the extraction process could pollute water in a tributary of the River Camel.
Geothermal Engineering Limited, the firm behind the plans, denied there would be pollution and said any impact on the environment would be mitigated.
Landowner Andrew MacLeod said the plant's location near a tributary of the River Camel was "ridiculous".
"I believe the water will be polluted," he said. Geothermal water, because of where it comes from, is laden with heavy metals, lithium, arsenic, and mercury."
David Stark, who lives near the proposed plant, said the location was wrong: "We're probably looking at three to five years of disruption, noise and pollution - and potentially seismic activity. This basically should not be happening here."
Another opponent, Sonia Parsons, added: "We're all in favour of eco-energy but it's a protected environment and we feel the risks are sufficient to say this shouldn't be going ahead."
Dr Ryan Law, CEO of Geothermal Engineering Limited, refuted the claims and said the plant would create dozens of jobs and generate around £2 million for the local economy.
"Tregath Geothermal will deliver up to 4.9MW of green, renewable baseload electricity to the National Grid and will be another step forward in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels," he said.
Both Cornwall Council and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government have dismissed the need for an environmental impact assessment on the plans.
A report to the planning committee says the Environment Agency is also satisfied that with "suitable planning conditions" there would be no "undue impacts on water interests, including ground water".
But The Environment Agency's response to the application adds that if any contamination is identified at the site, the development should be halted until the developer has submitted a "remediation strategy".
'Industry could grow'
Geothermal energy is created by drilling deep into hot rocks underground to produce a source of heat or to power electricity generators.
A recent study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) highlighted the potential in Cornwall for geothermal resource.
Dr Alison Monaghan, head of geothermal energy research at the BGS, said: "For every kilometre you go underground in Cornwall the geothermal gradient is more like 35C (95F) per kilometre, whereas in other parts of Britain that might be more like 26C (79F) per kilometre."
She said this meant there were "aspirations" to develop more geothermal plants in Cornwall.
"You don't have to drill as deep as you do in other parts of the UK for the same or more amounts of energy, and obviously it costs money to drill. The conditions are there so the industry could grow in Cornwall," she added.
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