According to Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), the power plant has a generation power capacity of 3 MW. To generate electricity, water is pumped down into hot granitic rocks where it is super-heated to about 200°C before being returned to the surface to drive a turbine.  

The £50mn project, funded through private investors and the EU, will also provide the UK’s first domestic supply of lithium, a critical mineral for green technology and electric vehicle batteries. The site will reportedly only produce about 100 tonnes of lithium per year – ‘enough for batteries in 1,400 EVs annually’ – but GEL said it plans to scale this to 18,000 tonnes annually. According to GEL, once the lithium has been extracted from the geothermal fluid at the Cornwall plant, it is deposited back underground to percolate through the natural fractures in the granite. ‘The geothermal brines from our 5 km deep well are rich in lithium, containing over 340 parts per million.’

A recent report from non-profit organisation Project InnerSpace stated that an estimated 3,900 GW of geothermal heat is extractible in the UK. To characterise the distribution of geothermal resources, the Project InnerSpace GeoMap team developed a national data set identifying areas with the highest geothermal theoretical potential, which were identified to be found across Great Britain. ‘Geological studies indicate that medium- to high-enthalpy geothermal potential is geographically distributed across regions with radiogenic granites and favourable subsurface conditions, including Cornwall, parts of northern England and Scotland.’

The Project InnerSpace authors complain that the UK currently lacks a dedicated geothermal strategy and national deployment targets. They argue that turning this resource into a national industry depends on aligning three elements: clear rules and faster regulatory pathways, planned demand through heat networks and anchor customers like hospitals, and targeted financial tools to bridge the early-stage risk gap.  

Beyond the UK, advances in drilling and reservoir engineering are unlocking geothermal electricity across much wider parts of Europe, according to a recent Ember report, titled Hot stuff: geothermal energy in Europe. The authors add that during the last decade, progress in geothermal technologies has ‘removed the need for naturally occurring permeability, meaning the presence of open pores in rock that allow fluids to flow. New approaches can now create or enhance these flow pathways artificially.’  

Combined with ‘more cost-effective deep drilling and advances in power-conversion systems that enable electricity generation at lower temperatures’, these new approaches are said to enhance flow pathways artificially.

The report estimates that around 43 GW of enhanced geothermal capacity in the European Union could be developed at costs below €100/MWh today and could deliver around 301 TWh of electricity per year, ‘equivalent to about 42% of coal and gas-fired generation in the EU in 2025’.  

As drilling extends to deeper resources – reaching down to potentially 7 km – the estimated potential can increase by roughly 180 times compared to assessments limited to resources at 2 km.

In the EU, geothermal energy currently exists in Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Austria and Portugal, and new developments are planned in Belgium, Slovakia, Germany and Greece. Ember’s report shows that, as of 2024, Europe had 147 geothermal power plants in operation. Of these, 21 have been producing electricity for more than 25 years.  

Ember’s report, Hot stuff: geothermal energy in Europe, released on 4 February 2026. The Project InnerSpace report, The future of geothermal in the UK, was shared on 5 February 2026.