Mapping of subsurface minewater resources against surface demands

Decarbonising heating and cooling, and the wide rollout of thermal storage are some of the greatest remaining challenges to decarbonising our energy system. Heating currently accounts for 45% of UK's energy use. Approximately 25% of the UK population live above abandoned coal mines that host geothermally heated water, which can be upgraded by heat pumps and delivered to homes and businesses through heat networks.

If used for thermal energy storage, mines could become a strategic low-carbon vector, storing heat generated from surplus renewable electricity, eliminating wasteful constraint payments. Consideration of minewater thermal resources and district heat in general must occur at the very initial design stages of a project so that demands are balanced with the ability of a minewater resource to supply heating, cooling and thermal storage.

This PhD will investigate the potential for mapping the subsurface opportunity against the surface demands and supplies. The project will use the existing mapping of heat demands in Scotland, focussing in on specific case study areas, to develop a truly integrated surface and subsurface approach to developing mine resources. The student will build a coupled surface and subsurface GIS to examine implications for appraisal, optimisation and management of thermal resources, regulation of heat, and energy masterplanning.

The student will join the HotScot Network: an academic-industry consortium aiming to transform Scotland's mining legacy from a liability into an asset: providing low cost, low carbon heating, cooling and thermal storage to homes and businesses.