A rich seam of green investment at old colliery

An exciting new project to make Stoke-on-Trent a greener, cleaner and more skilled city has been welcomed by Midlands energy expert Ron Fox.

The project, the Black to Green Eco park at the former Chatterley Whitfield Colliery on the outskirts of Chell and Ball Green, aims to turn the site into a centre for a multi-faceted digital and renewable energy generation scheme.

The aim is to use the location for cutting-edge digital developments – such as data storage centres – as well as tapping into the former mine’s latent heat energy to power up a District Heat Network.

“That is very appropriate as it would sit within the wider Digital and Energy Growth Zone that Chatterley Whitfield is located in,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science and Innovation Park.

The plans were unveiled at this year’s UKREiiF event – The UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum – which took place in the Royal Armouries Museum and New Dock, Leeds City Centre last month. It was attended by representatives of Stoke-on-Trent City Council to highlight the many regeneration opportunities available in their area to potential developers and investors.

The colliery at Chatterley Whitfield officially closed on Friday, March 25, 1977. The site is now owned and managed by the city council and comprises 10.5 hectares of former mining buildings within a 100-hectare country park.
Part of the site is a Scheduled Monument with 12 listed buildings incorporating the original mine workings, headgears and railway sidings.

The first part of the proposed project will use the site’s substantial electrical grid capacity for digital developments. Working with the National Grid, the city council has calculated that up to 150 megawatts (MW) of power, the equivalent to 150 million watts, could be produced and this would enable a rapid data centre roll-out linked to the UK’s AI Growth Zone agenda.

The second part is an integrated renewable energy scheme which would recover low-grade heat from the former mine workings and upgrade this through heat pump technology. This higher-grade heating could then be used through a District Heat Network (DHN) to help other parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

Alongside the mine workings and data centre heat, there will also be a 10MW photovoltaic solar farm and adjacent to it a 49MW battery storage system.

“It is fascinating to see how a site that powered the past through its coal mining will now power the future through green energy,” concluded Ron.

For those wanting more advice about green energy for their homes and offices, call Ron on 0845 474 6641 or go to www.noreus.co.uk.

Caption: An old photograph of Chatterley Whitfield Colliery.