Eden Geothermal Ltd unlocking geothermal energy across the UK.
In 2021, we drilled our deep (4.9km) well at the Eden Project, to heat its famous Biomes, greenhouses and offices. Our aim was to get Eden off gas, demonstrate how geothermal can help tackle the climate emergency and generate a better understanding of the geothermal resource in Cornwall and the wider region, to unlock future development.
Meet the core team who made it all happen below – or find out more about our projects, including the original Eden Geothermal Project, here.
Meet the team
Main Board
Nick Parker, Non-Executive Director
Nick is a director of Gravis, and was a co-founder of the company in 2008. He is the responsible for the origination and execution of project finance and asset backed investments with a particular focus on the solar and wind sectors. Nick is on the board of Gravis Advisory Limited.
Nick spent 10 years in investment banking in the City focused on debt origination, structuring and securitisation. He moved to DTZ Corporate Finance where he specialised in the financing of student accommodation assets and long dated cashflows arising from other property and infrastructure assets.
Philip Kent, Non-Executive Director
Phil is a Director at Gravis Capital Management, where has overall responsibility for the management of GCP Infrastructure Investments Limited, a FTSE 250 investment company focussed on UK infrastructure with a market capitalisation of c. £1bn. Over the 5 years since joining Gravis, Phil has principally been involved in the identification and structuring of new investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector. Phil has been the lead fund manager of GCP Infra for 2.5 years, during which time he has also led the portfolio management and investor and board communication activities.
Phil joined Gravis from Foresight Group, where he was responsible for investments in the waste and renewable sectors, including large waste wood combustion projects and a pipeline of anaerobic digestion projects across the UK. Philip has been involved in the energy sector for nearly 15 years, working initially as a consultant within PA Consulting’s energy practice, focusing on energy markets and energy asset valuations. In 2008, he moved to Gazprom Marketing and Trading, working in risk management across a number of commodities before moving into the clean energy team.
Richard Day, Non-Executive Director
Richard is a qualified lawyer and worked in various City firms for several years. He then joined Cazenove & Co (now JP Morgan Cazenove) and was in their Corporate Finance team for 12 years. He was a founding partner of institutional stockbrokers Arden Partners plc in 2002 and Head of Corporate Finance for most of his time with the firm, with a particular focus on Energy, Power and Renewables companies. He played an important part in building the Arden business, both domestically and internationally. He established and grew the corporate team from scratch to close to 50 retained listed corporate clients. He is now on the boards of and working closely with a range of companies, both publicly quoted and private.
Dawn Wilding, Non-Executive Director
Dawn is Group Chief Financial Officer for the Eden Project, responsible for all group finance matters including Accounting, Tax and Strategic Planning, alongside responsibilities for Legal and ICT. Dawn joined Eden from ChangeGroup International plc, a world leading Foreign Exchange and financial services business where she had been the Group CFO for three years. Prior to this she was at HMSHost International, a division of Autogrill SpA, based in Amsterdam, where she had been for 10 years. Her roles here included International CFO, where she was responsible for all aspects of Finance, and Vice President EMEA, where she assumed the overall running of the division and a workforce of over 2,500 people.
Before joining HMSHost, Dawn was at Burger King in the UK and Netherlands for eight years, covering various roles including Business Development and FP&A before heading up the business in the Netherlands. Dawn started her career in Grand Metropolitan (latterly Diageo) where she studied Chartered Management Accountancy whilst progressing her career through different roles, including Internal Audit.
Operations and Management
Augusta Grand, Chief Executive Officer
Gus has led Eden Geothermal through funding, procurement, drilling, construction and into operation. In 2023 Eden Geothermal became the first deep geothermal project to come online in the UK since 1986. She is now leading an enhanced team to help other organisations do the same. Before leading Eden Geothermal from 2019, Gus was Head of Policy at Eden Project, developing Eden’s sustainability and science programme. An expert in communication of sustainability issues, she joined Eden Project at its opening in 2001 and worked on policy, public education and science communication projects across a diversity of subjects: energy, climate, carbon, transport, biodiversity mining and horticulture. She is a winner of Project Innerspace PIVOT 2023 international awards as one of ‘Five on Fire’ geothermal catalysts of the year.
Paul Newcombe, Finance Director and Company Secretary
Paul was born and bred in Cornwall, studied Accountancy at University of Exeter, and has been a qualified Chartered Accountant for over 30 years. Paul spent 16 years working in accountancy practice at the largest independent firm of accountants in Cornwall, then 11 years in senior finance roles at two of the UK’s largest telecoms dealers in the SME sector, before joining Eden Project in 2011 as Financial Controller. Paul switched to Eden Geothermal in 2019 as Finance Director, and has overseen all financial aspects of the £20m project to supply deep geothermal heat to the Eden Project, resulting in the first operational deep geothermal project in the UK for 37 years.
Tony Pink, Chief Technology Officer
Tony brings huge experience to the role of CTO at EGL. He has 32 years’ experience in drilling, engineering and management, with a decade in the field, and 22 years in leadership roles, such as the CTO Drilling Technologies at NOV. A leader at the heart of the the US pivot from oil and gas drilling toward geothermal, Tony has recently been appointed chair of the Project Innerspace, Geothermal Rising and Society of Petroleum Engineers’ consortium, Department of Energy funded, $165m GEODE project to develop a roadmap to accelerate the growth and development of geothermal, leveraging expertise, technologies, and methods from the oil and gas industry. This experience will help the EGL and UK industry benefit from US learning and build a profitable pipeline of projects in the UK.
He has published and presented 13 SPE/IADC papers and has 5 US and EU Patents on Closed Loop Drilling Automation, Automated Directional Drilling, Early Kick Detection Particle Drilling and Insulated Drill Pipe.
Tom Grand, Chief Commercial Officer
After 20 years of growing recurring revenue businesses in the technology sector, Tom is applying his experience to help organisations through the process of building geothermal projects from conception to execution. Tom started his commercial career in Enterprise Sales at MessageLabs and, after its acquisition, went on to lead sales teams at Symantec before being appointed UK and Ireland Regional Director at Achilles Information in 2013. Responsible for the Carbon Reduce, Supply Line, Link Up, Building Confidence and UVDB supplier assurance communities Tom developed expertise in regulated procurement and UK supply chains. After 4 years as Head of Customer Success at Kallidus, Tom entered the UK sustainable heat market in 2022, founding Bedrock Geothermal, a direct geothermal first consultancy for developing sustainable energy systems in the UK. Tom has an Executive MBA from the University of Oxford, a Law degree from Durham University and served for five years in the Infantry.
Dan James, Development Advisor
Dan is Development Director at the Eden Project, leading the early stages of project development and implementation including relationship building and project design. He is responsible for the delivery of a number of projects including the National Wildflower Centre, Eden’s social prescribing programme – ‘Nature’s Way’, and ‘Deep Roots New Shoots’ – a nature-based project for under 5’s and their families.
Having joined Eden in 2002, Dan has supported Eden’s funding activity across a number of sectors including public funds, trusts and foundations raising significant funds to pay for capital improvements on site as well as revenue funds for programmes and projects. In his early role with Eden, Dan was instrumental in securing and managing funds awarded by the Government, Europe and the Lottery. He played a leading role in the establishment and maintenance of key regional and national stakeholder relationships, helping to bring some important Eden initiatives to reality, including The Core building, The Big Lunch programme and Eden Geothermal.
Lucy Cotton – Principal Geologist
Previously Senior Geologist and Geothermal Group Manager at Geoscience Ltd, Lucy has unrivalled geological experience whilst drilling deep geothermal wells in the UK. Lucy was the Lead Site Geologist during the drilling of the Eden Geothermal well at Eden Project and both wells at the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project. She has spent the last three years focusing on the decarbonisation of heat for UK industries, carrying out feasibility studies for multi-national corporations such as distilleries, pharmaceutical companies, and large food manufacturers and dairies.
Alongside her technical role, she has developed great skill in communicating ground-breaking technologies to all ages in the renewable sector. This includes designing and delivering the education programme for the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, the creation of the “Miss Molecule and Friends” animation series and presenting the film “Power to the People” by Cornwall Climate Care.
Steve Mabbott, Operations Manager
Steve joined Eden Project in 2018 and has been with Eden Geothermal since September 2020. His background has covered a very broad range of Engineering disciplines from heavy engineering in the steel industry to various roles in FMCG and consultancy.
Steve is a qualified, multi-skilled engineer with a keen focus on Health & Safety. Previous senior roles include Project Manager, Estates & Facilities Manager, Operations Director and Engineering & Production Manager. At Eden, his in-depth knowledge of the geographical area and supporting networks, and experience of working as Eden Project’s Estates & Facilities Manager, were invaluable in ensuring that we had the correct site infrastructure to support the project.
Dr Joerg Baumgaertner, Technical Advisor
Joerg is one of the leading specialists in the world on developing and producing geothermal energy from Enhanced Geothermal Systems. Post-doctorate at Stanford University and Dowell-Schlumberger, USA, specialising in borehole measurements and stimulation of deep boreholes; PhD in hydraulic surveying and rock stress analysis of deep boreholes; and Diplomas in Geophysics. He is a specialist in well and system testing, including borehole measurements and stimulation techniques of deep boreholes. Joerg is a Member of the German Geothermal Association (Bundesverband Geothermie) and a Member of the Geothermal Resources Council, USA. He has extensive experience in both conventional and engineered geothermal systems and their management. Jorg has completed two 4MWe capacity geothermal plants at Landau and Insheim in Germany for GeoX GmbH.
Chris Briggs, Drilling Engineer
Chris leads on our well operations. He has 25 years of drilling experience worldwide including many geothermal wells in Germany and France, as well as on EG-1. When he’s not working he’s generally sailing or “messing around on the water” and racing in events such as the Rolex Fastnet. As a resident of Cornwall he’s very excited to see geothermal energy being developed in the county.
