United Downs: The UK’s first Geothermal Power Plant
The United Downs Geothermal Power Plant, which launched in February 2026, is the UK’s first geothermal power plant and a trailblazer for the industry. Located near Redruth in Cornwall, the project harnesses the natural deep geothermal resources within Cornwall’s granite to generate renewable electricity 24/7 and unlock critical minerals from geothermal brine.
United Downs is home to the UK’s hottest and deepest onshore well, reaching more than 5km below the surface. There is a production well from which hot geothermal fluid is pumped up to the surface and also an injection well reaching around 2.4km beneath the surface.
As a pioneering energy and critical minerals company, we have now successfully demonstrated that domestic geothermal resources can contribute to greater energy security, economic growth and a more resilient low-carbon future for the UK.
24/7 Baseload Power
Unlike many renewable technologies, geothermal energy provides constant, 24/7 baseload power, operating day and night regardless of weather conditions. With a small land footprint and low lifecycle carbon emissions, geothermal power offers a reliable source of clean energy that can support the UK’s transition to net zero and provide a domestic source of energy.
In 2023, United Downs became the only recipient of the UK’s first geothermal Contracts for Difference (CfD) award, providing long-term revenue certainty and recognising geothermal energy’s strategic role in the future energy mix. GEL has also secured CfDs for two other sites in Cornwall.
Critical Minerals
For more than a century, lithium has been known to exist within Cornwall’s geothermal waters. At United Downs, GEL has identified globally significant lithium concentrations and is advancing technologies to extract this critical mineral from the geothermal brine through GEL’s Lithium Demonstration Plant.
GEL forms part of Cornwall’s critical minerals cluster, with support from the Automotive Transformation Fund and Innovate UK the Lithium Demonstration Plant is establishing additional revenue streams from the geothermal brines as well as supporting the UK’s ambitions to deliver clean domestic sources of critical minerals by 2035.
