Mine water heat research and development

We design and deliver our own mine water heat research and development, and also support researchers and academics who are studying mine water heat. We use the data to support evidence based decision making and our understanding of how mine water heat schemes interact and change the subsurface environment.

Launched by the Mining Remediation Authority in January 2025, the Gateshead mine water heat Living Laboratory is the only facility in the world designed to monitor how heat, water and geology behave between multiple operational mine water heat schemes. The data from this is freely available as part of work to support future decisions on permitting and mine heat access agreements.

The Living Lab comprises several monitoring boreholes located between operational mine water heat schemes in north east England. This is one of the only locations in the World where it is possible to study the interaction between mine water heat schemes.

The boreholes contain sensors capable of obtaining hourly measurements of water levels and water temperatures and also offer the potential for collection of mine water samples for chemical analysis. The data generated from the Living Lab is fully open access, supporting operators, regulators, developers, researchers and academics who are working on mine water heat.

Supporting researchers and academics

Across Great Britain there is a significant research community looking at aspects of mine water for its use in heating, cooling and intersessional storage. Where projects align with our vision for mine water heat we often supply letters of support to accompany funding proposals. The Mining Remediation Authority also provides data and information to researchers via our data solutions team and can, where safe to do so, provide access to sites for monitoring and data collection.

We have provided access agreements that have enabled the British Geological Survey to operate their UKGEOS mine water observatory in Glasgow, which provides infrastructure to test and monitor the use of mine water for heating, cooling and storage.

We have also provided letters of support to several large research projects including; the University of Strathclyde who are looking at how heat can be stored using existing shafts in mine workings as part of a project called ‘STEaM’; the University of Edinburgh who’s project ‘Galleries to Calories’ hopes to understand how heat can be both stored and transported in mine workings, and  Durham Energy Institute who’s project ‘GEMS’ has already produced toolkits and computer models to help support mine water heat schemes.

We recognise the value of undertaking a wide range of research and development in to mine water heat, to help maximise the potential. If you would like to know more about how we can support your research and development, please contact us.

To find out more and to see how the mining Remediation Authority could help you with your project, read our articles on mine water heat.