7 WorldWide Drilling Resource® JANUARY 2021 New Geothermal Pool Makes a Big Splash Adapted from Information by Jubilee Pool and Geothermal Engineering Ltd. Jubilee Pool is the largest saltwater pool in the United Kingdom. The iconic and much celebrated 1930s art deco lido (public outdoor swimming pool) is directly on the seafront at Penzance, in Cornwall. The longest side of the triangular pool is 321 feet long and it is 183 feet at its widest part. Per design, this seawater pool has no mechanical filtration and uses minimal chemical treatment. The quality of the water is carefully maintained with daily water replacement timed with the outgoing and incoming tides. Jubilee Pool is actually three pools. The main pool depths range from nearly four feet to just over seven feet, the learner pool is about two feet deep, and the just-opened geothermal pool has depths over four feet. The idea of adding a heated section to Jubilee Pool was first discussed in 2010. An incredible amount of work by the Jubilee Pool Directors and staff went into seeing this ten-year project come to fruition, as covered in the January 2017 E-News Flash. The investment is a great demonstration of the power of community because a good portion of the funding came from a public share offer resulting in an organization truly owned by the community, with 1400 shareholders, of which 970 are locals. The remainder of funds were from a mix of loans and grants from Power to Change, Architectural Heritage Fund, and Cooperative Community Investment Fund. The geothermal well was constructed by Geothermal Engineering Ltd. and was funded partly by the European Regional Development program. The geothermal pool’s system operates by extracting warm water from one geothermal well (drilled to about 1345 feet), taking heat out of that water using heat pumps, then distributing it to the pool via a heat exchanger, before reinjecting the cooler water back into the ground via another, shallower well. The combined system means the temperature of the pool can be sustained at around 95ºF (35ºC) with a very low carbon footprint. The wells were drilled as close to the pool as possible. The geothermal pool utilizes ultraviolet filtration to maintain water quality at higher temperatures. The investment project transformed Jubilee Pool to enable year-round opening, plus the changing facilities were upgraded, a new cafe with double the seating capacity was built, and there is now a multipurpose space for community gatherings. The system is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and will act as a showcase for geothermal, low-carbon heat supply. Editor’s Note: In between our print issues, the WWDR Team prepares an electronic newsletter called E-News Flash. This newsletter is filled with articles not included in our print issue. Based on readership, this was the most popular article of the month. Get in on the action and subscribe today at: www.worldwidedrillingresource.com GEO
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