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- THE HOT DRY ROCK GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PROGRAMME
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- In 1973 a low cost undergraduate project showed that it was possible to
- enhance the flow of water between two adjacent boreholes by a technique
- called explosive fracturing. From that modest beginning the Camborne School
- of Mines Hot Dry Rock (HDR) geothermal energy programme has developed into
- a world leader in the field of alternative energy research. It has
- received more than 30 million pounds in grants from the Department of
- Energy and the European Community.
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- The concept of HDR is extremely simple. It involves pumping water down a
- deep borehole, allowing it to percolate through natural cracks and fissures
- in the rocks, where it heats up, and returns to the surface through a
- second borehole.
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