United Downs Geothermal

Developing a commercial scale electricity generation plant using the hot rocks beneath Cornwall.

Geothermal energy can provide thousands of homes with a continuous supply of electricity, with little to no emissions, by circulating naturally heated and pressurised water to power turbines. As such, there is a great deal of interest in starting commercial scale production as soon as possible. United Downs Geothermal is seeking to develop Cornwall's first geothermal energy plant.

United Downs Geothermal raised funding through Abundance in 2017, alongside a loan from Cornwall Council and a grant from the European Regional Development Fund. Over the course of 2018 and 2019, the company planned to drill and test a production well and an injection well before the power plant would be constructed above ground based on the potential energy that was discovered in the testing. The funding raised on Abundance was only due to be committed and used by the company at the point a viable energy plant had been identified - if the money was used, investors would earn interest at 12% a year, but if the money was not used within that period the money would be returned to investors with a lower interest rate of 2% a year.

By the end of 2018, due to delays to the drilling stage and the likelihood that the company would not be ready to use the funding raised, the company took the decision, with investors' agreement, to repay the investment in full on 7 December 2018. The United Downs Geothermal project is continuing its development to demonstrate a viable geothermal industry from the UK.