Councillor calls to produce geothermal energy at Ducklington Lake

The popular walking spot has been sounded out by West Oxfordshire district councillor Colin Dingwall as a possible location to source geothermal power.

Using underground reservoirs of steam and hot water, geothermal power generates electricity or can heat and cool buildings directly.

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Southampton has been making use of geothermal since 1986, while the Eden Project in Cornwall began drilling in May 2021, as part of its aim to become carbon neutral or better by 2025.

Currently though, there are no deep geothermal plants in the UK, however Dingwall says it’s feasible West Oxfordshire could be used to generate geothermal power.

He said: “It’s simply drilling a borehole, putting cold water down and getting steam at the other end.

“We’ve got lots of water round here, often too much.

“We’re looking to get the community behind this so we can put pressure on local government to get investing into this.

“You don’t need Shell or BP, it’s a very socialist thing to do and doesn’t need large businesses.”

Ducklington Lake in Witney. Picture: Liam Rice

Dingwall earmarked Ducklington Lake as the location for harnessing the power of geothermal in the district.

He said: “The key area would be around Ducklington Lake, you could help the local businesses there by joining them up to a system.

“There’s a lot of water there, and you’ve already got the high-powered substations.

“It’s out of the way of most people and there’d be low costs with connecting to the National Grid.”

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This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.

Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice