Noise Pollution, Light Pollution, Visual Impact & Waste
There is no doubt that residents for miles around will suffer the ‘adverse effects’ of this development
Light Pollution: The site covers a vast area that will be lit up day and night.
This will drive away the bats that use the fields as a feeding area and an important corridor within their habitat. It will drive away the owls that can be heard hunting for prey in the area every night. As residents, we will need to block out the intrusive light.
‘The role of regulation in geothermal energy in the UK’, February 2023.
Well-researched facts on the impacts of geothermal plants can be found in this detailed paper published within ‘Energy Policy’ (“Energy Policy is an international peer-reviewed journal addressing the policy implications of energy supply and use from their economic, social, planning and environmental aspects”).
The role of regulation in geothermal energy in the UK - ScienceDirect
Section 3.2 asserts that '“the operation of deep geothermal energy abstraction systems can lead to air pollution (Shortall et al., 2015) and additional noise pollution (Shortall et al., 2015; DiPippo, 2015), and the quality of water can also be adversely impacted by effluent and leakage (DiPippo, 2015; Kruszewski and Wittig, 2018).”
Noise Pollution: For up to 2 years, a 55m-high drill will grind its way through the earth down to a depth of almost 3 miles. This will operate continuously, day and night.
Two banks of fans - 23 in total, each a staggering 10m tall, will operate continuously.
This is all alongside the normal noise associated with a large-scale industrial construction site.
Visual Impact: The ‘Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment’ document submitted in November 2023 as part of GEL’s application, states:
Visual impact for nearby residents will be ‘high’;
The overall effect during the drilling phase will be ‘substantial adverse’;
The overall effect during operation will be ‘substantial adverse’.
Waste: The slurry water extracted from the ground will contain toxins
Geothermal reservoirs can contain toxic heavy metals (e.g. mercury, arsenic, boron), the impact of which may be greater if the sites are also used for precious metal extraction (e.g. lithium), since the lithium (and potentially other pollutants, contaminants have to be brought to the surface to be processed / dealt with.