Queen’s University Belfast is to partner in a major, all-Ireland geothermal-energy project designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to help meet net zero commitments. 

The GEMINI project was launched in Dublin recently and will be a £17.3m multi-partner, all-island geothermal project with pilot demonstrator sites based in Belfast, Sligo and Dublin, with support from Queen’s experts. 

The new Queen's Business School building at Riddell Hall site, which uses geothermal energy, as well as other renewable technologies, to meet the building's energy needs.

Queen’s researchers will also be exploring resource assessment for shallow geothermal energy in the Belfast/Lagan Valley area and contributing to the resource assessment for deep geothermal energy in Co Antrim.

Over the next four years, GEMINI will help reduce GHGs associated with heat production, a goal central to EU, UK and Irish strategies to meet 2050 emissions targets.

The project is led by Codema, Dublin’s Energy Agency, and is supported by the PEACEPLUS programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and endorsed by the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland’s Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

What is geothermal?

Geothermal energy is a secure, local, near-zero emissions energy source which is suited to both urban and rural areas, including individual users or networks with larger heat demands.

The geothermal technologies deployed in this project will use heat energy from the Earth to feed large-scale heating and cooling systems in public sector buildings such as swimming pools, housing projects, utilities offices and a university campus.

The GEMINI project will support the development of the geothermal sector and accelerate the uptake of geothermal energy through four real-world pilot installations, 3 shallow (less than 500 metres) in Sligo and Belfast and one deep (about 2km) in Grangegorman, Dublin.

Wider impact

Additional data will also be collected for potential future sites, thereby ensuring that the GEMINI work will have wider impacts for the island by increasing and improving our knowledge of the sub-surface and our island’s potential geothermal resources.

This information will also help to inform new policies, guidelines and supports for the sector through geological heat potential maps, cross-border policy recommendations, toolkits for decision makers (homeowners, planners, developers and local government), community engagement guidelines, and business and skills development activities.

Professor Mark Palmer from Queen’s Business School and Dr Ulrich Ofterdinger, from the School of Natural and Built Environment, will be leading Queen’s involvement in the project.

Dr Ofterdinger said: “Geothermal Energy is a readily accessible, always-on 24/7 source of renewable energy to decarbonise the heating and cooling sector. As part of the cross-border GEMINI project, Queen’s interdisciplinary research is supporting the development of a number of demonstrator sites across the island of Ireland to help build momentum for the uptake of geothermal energy across the island.” 

NI economy minister Conor Murphy said: “Decarbonisation is a cornerstone of my economic plan. As an alternative to fossil fuels, geothermal energy has a pivotal role to play in decarbonising heat. The GEMINI project will demonstrate and promote the benefits of geothermal across the island.

“Important partnership work has made this project possible, and I commend the partners involved for their ongoing collaboration with the public sector in the north. The public sector is our largest energy consumer, and I welcome GEMINI’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by unlocking our island’s deep geothermal potential and supporting our move away from imported fossil fuels.”

Environment minister Eamon Ryan said: “Importantly the GEMINI project will do more than just deliver infrastructure in the short term.

"It will also build essential capacity in our planning, education, research and energy design systems, along with best practice for community engagement. This will deliver long term solutions and sustainable impact beyond the four-year project. Along with my colleagues in Northern Ireland, I look forward to seeing the outputs of this ambitious and timely collaborative project.”

Altogether there will be 15 partners on GEMINI north and south of the border, including local and national government; research sector; and community engagement groups.