Old Versus New: Comparing Mine Water Geothermal Systems in Glasgow

Abstract

With the increasing improvements being made to energy sources across the renewables sector, and their application to the UK wide energy mix, interest into the development of geothermal energy in the UK is becoming more prominent. With only a small number of active or discontinued UK based mine water geothermal systems, the development of a research-based pilot scheme could prove to be highly informative when assessing the nature of the resources available. The established site at Shettleston, Glasgow has been operating with varying degrees of success for the past 20 years but associated scientific data collection was performed post installation. Conversely, during the installation of the Glasgow UKGEOS (UK Geo-Observatory) mine water geothermal project, scientists were invited to conduct research alongside the British Geological Survey (BGS), beginning with a 199 m deep observation borehole. Daily sampling and analysis of waters will generate an extensive subsurface hydrochemical dataset, in line with extensive research and development aims laid out by the Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC) for the 15-year lifespan of the research facility. Initial hydrochemical analysis of sampled drilling fluids and groundwaters has been completed for both sites. Physicochemical properties of the waters, including pH, electrical conductivity (µS/cm), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), temperature, and total dissolved solids were measured alongside major and minor ions and the total alkalinity. Stable isotopes of 18O and 2H were analysed in waters collected from UKGEOS. Shettleston data also includes temperature and conductivity depth profiles.