Characterising the Subsurface To Support the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy

The talk will cover two exciting projects aimed to better understand how heat can be recovered and stored in the subsurface. Case studies from two `geo energy observatories` will be presented. The first is the `Cardiff Urban Geo Observatory` a city scale project characterising a shallow sand and gravel aquifer, underlain by Mercia Mudstone. Using 3D geological models and hydrogeological model, complemented with an operational pilot open loop ground source heat pump scheme the project takes a city scale approach to better understand how heat can be recovered and stored below ground. The second project is the `UKGEOS` Glasgow project where multiple boreholes have been installed into flooded mine workings, the infrastructure is open to the wider scientific community and will be at the forefront of studying the use of mine water energy.