Rosemanowes Quarry

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Rosemanowes Quarry, near Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, was the site of an early experiment in extracting geothermal energy from the earth using hot dry rock (HDR) technology.

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[edit] Geothermal energy research project

The site was chosen because the granite in the area has the highest heat flow in England (120 milliwatts per square meter).[1]

The trials began in 1977 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis and an earlier trial in the United States at Fenton Hill. It concluded in 1980, although studies continued until 1991.[2] Funding for the initial project was provided by the Department of Energy (now the Department of Trade and Industry) and by the European Commission.[3]. The research facilities and staff transferred to Camborne School of Mines Associates Limited in 1992, the trading arm of the Camborne School of Mines.

With government and EU support the expertise of the scientists and engineers at Rosemanowes were used to support the European HDR project at Soultz-sous-Forêts [4] and a number of commercial contracts ensued exploiting HDR techniques, such as microseismic monitoring, in the oil and gas industry. Rosemanowes Quarry and the assets of CSMA, including intellectual property, were acquired by Asea Brown Boveri in 1997. In 2004 Schlumberger acquired the intellectual property and some of the staff most closely associated with microseismic monitoring and the quarry was sold off. The site was acquired by 3K Facilities in 2006 and now offers deep borehole test facilities in one of the most well logged sites in the world. All the deep boreholes are now available to hire for a range of down hole testing. With 3 deep boreholes (2350m, 2180m, 2800m) 4x uncased 300m holes and one 150m hole inclined at 30deg. As well as Micro seismic testing and a wind turbine test environment on this 20 acres site

Although the energy has not yet been exploited commercially, the data provided by the tests has been widely used to test numerical simulation codes.[5][6] The dataset contributed significantly to the geothermal power plant built with European Union sponsorship at Soultz-sous-Forêts.[7][6][8].

[edit] Use by U.S. forces during World War II

During the Second World War, the Quarry was used for storage by U.S. forces, preparing for the invasion of Europe, which started in June 1944 [9].


[edit] Location

The quarry is at Herniss, to the north of the A 394 road, between Rame and Longdowns. Ordnance Survey, Explorer series, Map 103, : grid reference SW73453460.

[edit] See also

Energy Portal

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Development of hot dry rock technology in GHC Bulletin, December 2001 p18. Accessed 2007-11-04.
  2. ^ Geothermal Power, Sara Batley, De Montfort University, 1996-07-31. Accessed 2007-08-06
  3. ^ MIT. The Future of Geothermal Energy in the United States (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  4. ^ See French Wikipedia: Soultz-sous-Forêts - Soultz is in the Alsace région of France.
  5. ^ Kolditz, O., Clauser, C. (1998), "Numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer in fractured crystalline rocks: application to the hot dry rock site at Rosemanowes (UK)", Geothermics, Vol. 27 No.1, pp.1-23.
  6. ^ a b "A deep geothermal exploration well at Eastgate, Weardale, UK: a novel exploration concept for low-enthalpy resources" (2007). Journal of the Geological Society 164 (2): 371–382. doi:10.1144/0016-76492006-015. 
  7. ^ Bachler & Kohl 2005, Coupled thermal-hydraulic-chemical modelling of enhanced geothermal systems, Geophysical Journal International, 161, 533-548
  8. ^ HDR PROJECT SOULTZ - This involves drilling three holes 5000 metres deep.
  9. ^ BBC WW2 "The People's war":Memories site: Stithians.


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