As the UK’s first geothermal power plant producing electricity from natural resources underneath our feet, curiosity around how it’s going to work has always been high.
From the beginning of the project, the team has worked closely with our local communities, stakeholders and schools to give people the opportunity to access the leading, innovative projects taking place on their doorstep.
Since 2018, our community engagement & education team led by Jane Charman have visited and hosted site visits for more than 200 schools speaking to over 12,000 pupils and students from primary schools to universities. In the first quarter of 2026, they have already visited and met 20 schools, interacted with over 900 students, discussed future collaborations with two FE/HE institutes, visited nine local community events and supported two ongoing research projects.
Education in the UK is evolving, with a renewed focus on equipping young people with transferable skills they can take confidently into the workplace. Schools are now using the Gatsby Benchmarks to measure how effectively they connect learning to real-world careers, while also helping businesses collaborate with educators in more meaningful and efficient ways. GEL supports this shift by offering engaging, age-appropriate lessons and workshops for schools and colleges, ensuring students stay informed about emerging technologies that will be part of their future, including geothermal power and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).
Work experience is also changing after being the same for nearly 30 years. Instead of a single week in Year 10, students will now gain ten days of workplace insight spread across years 7 to 11, a far richer and more meaningful introduction to the world of work. To support this shift, GEL has been working closely with the Cornwall Council Careers Hub to pilot a series of hands-on workplace experience workshops. Designed to align fully with the Gatsby Benchmarks, these sessions give students the chance to build real-world skills such as critical thinking, negotiation, planning, and more. Despite this being a new approach for many, the workshops have been enthusiastically received by students. They’re discovering that these practical, future-focused skills aren’t just useful, they are essential for a confident and successful transition from education into their first job.
As education increasingly embraces real-world learning, colleges and universities are encouraging students to anchor their projects in genuine business challenges across diverse industries—helping them grow into bold, creative, outside-the-box thinkers. GEL’s Community Engagement & Education team is especially keen to collaborate with students in the creative sectors, where imagination and innovation thrive.
The critical minerals sector has become essential for the UK as it seeks to secure a domestic supply of the essential materials. Access to skills is expected to be one of the barriers to the development of the sector, and we see GEL as having a responsibility and the opportunity to encourage young people to consider jobs across a broad range of roles in the geo-resources industry.
GEL is the UK’s front-runner in lithium production and has the potential to be a significant contributor to the UK’s Vision 2035 Critical Mineral Strategy which aims for 50,000 tonnes of lithium to be produced domestically by 2035. Beyond this important ambition is also the positive impact the resurgence of the critical minerals sector could have for the region’s economic growth.
BBC’s The One Show joined us recently as a group of Truro and Penwith College students came to find out more about the geothermal power plant and direct lithium extraction (DLE) processing. With a new apprenticeship launching later this year which aims to help plug potential skills gaps, GEL is able to give the students a first-hand introduction to the geo-resources sector, getting a sense of the variety of roles and skills needed.
As GEL has pioneered the geothermal technology in the UK, the team has worked to bring our communities in on the excitement, opportunity and potential for the sector to bring skilled jobs to our region.
