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Green energy plan for former fracking site

BBC A man in an orange high-viz jacket stands beside a well with red and silver pipes and cylinders coming from it.BBC
Russell Hoare was tasked with finding a new use for his company's 3,000m well following a ban on fracking

An underground well drilled in preparation for a controversial fracking operation is now being used to create clean, green geothermal energy.

The site in Kirby Misperton was at the centre of a long running protest in 2016, after Third Energy was given permission to extract shale gas.

However, after the project failed to get consent from the government, the company was taken over by CeraPhi who now hope to use the Earth's natural heat to provide hot water to homes in the village within the next two years.

Villages who once barricaded the gates to the site said the chance to create "something really good out of something so disruptive" was "amazing".

A woman with grey hair and glasses, wearing a dog collar, stands in a hall with a red sign behind her, which reads 'keep calm and stop fracking.'
Retired vicar Jackie Cray was among those to protest against the fracking site

Following news of the fracking ban in 2019, the CeraPhi Geothermal Development Company set one of its staff the task of finding a use for the land, including the 3,000-metre deep well.

"At that depth, the water is naturally very hot, and so I looked at it and I thought if we've got hot water available on tap we should be using it," said Russell Hoare.

A woman with grey hair and glasses holds up a placard reading 'keep Ryedale rural - no fracking.'
Sue Gough said she never imagined the site could be used to produce green energy

Protesters Sue Gough and Jackie Cray were among the residents to visit the site to learn more about the proposals.

"Because I wear a dog collar I wasn't prepared to break the law, but I went to the limits of what I felt that I could do," retired vicar Ms Cray told The One Show.

"I think repurposing the gas well is just amazing.

"It's like something really good has come out of something that was so disruptive."

Ms Gough added: "Stop the fracking was the end goal, we didn't think this might be the result."

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