Geothermal Heat Offers New Route To Year-Round UK Food Production
The UK’s first geothermal glasshouse expects its inaugural winter crop of strawberries within weeks, demonstrating how heat from deep beneath the ground could help UK growers extend the domestic production season for fresh produce and reduce reliance on imports.
The first-of-its-kind £2.4m research facility, officially opened this week by HRH The Princess Royal, is located on the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus.
The pioneering glasshouse uses geothermal energy drawn from a series of 18 boreholes reaching approximately 200 metres below the Lincolnshire countryside.
Heat recovered from the underground rock formations keeps the growing environment at around 17°C, which provides stable conditions for year-round, low-carbon protected production.
The first strawberry plants established at the site in August are expected to produce their initial fruit within weeks, with harvesting set to continue through winter, delivering British strawberries for Christmas, reports GB News.
“We planted them in August, but they probably think it’s April or May,” pointed out Kristian Lukasik, technical resource manager at the Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology (LIAT).
Production is estimated at approximately half a tonne of strawberries, and the fruit will be supplied to local food banks and the university’s campus canteen.
From Strawberries To Tomatoes
The project could provide a model for producing British strawberries during the winter, when much of the fruit available to consumers is imported.
Producing berries locally would deliver a quality advantage over winter fruit imported from countries such as Egypt and Jordan, according to Lukasik.
The shorter supply chain would allow fruit to reach consumers much sooner after harvest.
“The best taste you can get is over the first three to four days,” he explained. “After that, the strawberry may look good but the taste is not there. Growing locally, we can have the freshest fruit.”
The research programme will continue after the first strawberry crop, with tomatoes planned as the next crop.
Then researchers will investigate the suitability of the geothermal glasshouse for peppers, cucumbers, and flowers.
Lower Heating Costs
Rather than relying on conventional greenhouse heating, the system uses naturally occurring underground heat to maintain growing conditions.
The research facility aims to change how food is grown in the UK by testing new crops, technologies, and growing systems that can support more efficient and sustainable food production.
The economics of greenhouse production are a central part of the research.
Simon Pearson, founding director of LIAT, says geothermal heating can reduce energy costs by about one-third compared with natural gas, which is traditionally used for heating commercial greenhouses.
That could be significant for protected horticulture, which has faced considerable pressure from higher energy costs since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Pearson argues that demonstrating the technology at commercial scale could help to give growers and investors greater confidence in adopting geothermal energy.
He also points out that geothermal resources are not only restricted to volcanic areas such as Iceland.
In fact, Pearson claims that potential resources are available across considerable areas of Lincolnshire, Scotland, and particularly Cornwall.
“There’s no reason we can't do this in the UK [but] people aren’t going to invest millions of pounds until they can see the technology works,” he stated.
Reducing Reliance On Imports
Importantly, the potential application of geothermal energy extends beyond just strawberry production.
Currently, Britain produces a relatively small proportion of the fruit and vegetables consumed domestically, which leaves retailers dependent on overseas supply for many lines.
Mediterranean and North African producers, including growers in Spain and Morocco, are important suppliers of protected salad crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.
However, weather disruption in those regions has highlighted the potential exposure of long-distance supply chains, with this summer’s heatwaves in Spain contributing to cucumber shortages in UK supermarkets.
Climate change could add further pressure to production in some traditional supply regions, according to Pearson, while creating an opportunity for controlled-environment agriculture in Britain.
He points to the decline in domestic tomato production as an example, noting that the UK’s share of consumption has fallen from around 50% to approximately 20% in recent years.
“That’s ridiculous,” Pearson exclaimed. “We can grow that food in the UK and create jobs.”
Indeed, the greater use of heated glasshouses could have implications beyond food availability, and potentially support additional domestic production and employment for the UK horticultural sector also.
Potential For Waste Heat
Geothermal energy is not the only alternative heat source being considered either.
Pearson also sees potential in capturing waste heat generated by data centres and using it to support adjacent glasshouse production.
“A 50MW data centre could produce enough waste heat for a 50-hectare glasshouse on the side of it,” he said.
The combination of alternative heat sources and controlled-environment production could open new possibilities for UK glasshouse development, particularly where energy infrastructure and horticultural production can be located together.
“If it goes well, and geothermal comes along and the data centres go in, we could be in a new age for glasshouse expansion in the UK. I’m super-excited about it.”
Watch a video from LIAT here.
Comments