Towards Investor-Ready Business Models for Mine Water Heat Systems: Regulatory, Technical, and Operational Insights for the Heat Geobattery

As the global energy transition accelerates, innovative solutions such as Mine Water Heat Systems (MWHS) are emerging to address the dual challenges of energy storage and decarbonised heating and cooling. This study focuses on the development of a business model for a heat geobattery system, which utilises abandoned mine workings to store thermal energy for heating, cooling, and thermal storage services, leveraging waste heat from a data centre.

We identify the operational roles, services, and responsibilities of a Mine Water (MW) operator and assess their impact on the heat supply chain. The UK’s regulatory landscape for MWHS is also investigated, highlighting gaps, barriers, and opportunities for regulatory enablement.

Additionally, we aim to build a database of technical risks to quantify the costs of mitigation strategies. This involves identifying critical risks associated with MWHS, including technical failures, environmental impacts, and regulatory non-compliance. Potential liabilities, such as pump and heat exchanger failures, mine gas release, and groundwater disruption, are analysed alongside their consequences, including downtime, environmental harm, and financial penalties. Mitigation strategies, such as regular maintenance, water quality monitoring, emergency response plans, and compliance frameworks, are proposed, with their costs estimated. These measures ensure system reliability, environmental protection, and adherence to regulatory requirements, enabling safe and efficient MWHS operations.

This study underpins the development of an investor-ready business model for the commercialisation of a heat geobattery system. Emphasis is placed on aligning financial incentives with operational feasibility, customer demand, and supply structure. By integrating these findings with the rest of the Galleries2Calories project, this research provides a framework for the seamless adoption of heat geobatteries. The outcomes contribute to understanding how MW operators can enhance the heat supply chain while addressing critical regulatory and environmental considerations.