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United Downs produces UK’s first geothermal power
- 16 hours ago (2026-02-27)
- David Flin
The United Downs deep geothermal power project in Cornwall, the first geothermal power plant in the UK, has started generating electricity.
EU-PVSEC 2026
Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL), owner and operator of the plant, has signed a long-term agreement with Octopus Energy to supply 3 MW from the plant. GEL has said that it was also producing demonstration-scale levels of low-carbon lithium carbonate for electric vehicle batteries.
The United Downs well is over 5 km deep. It delivers geothermal fluid for power generation, after which the fluid is processed to produce technical grade lithium carbonate before being reinjected back underground.
Ryan Law, CEO of GEL, said: “Geothermal energy and critical minerals extraction are naturally complimentary as they share the same subsurface resource. The hot, minerals-rich fluids that generate clean electricity can also be processed to recover strategic materials like lithium as well as rare earth minerals.”