HOPES are high that a £10m international centre of excellence for research into environmentally-friendly fuel sources will be built in County Durham.

The project moved a step closer this week when Easington District Council agreed to help fund a feasibility study to look at establishing a specialist institute to investigate the potential of geo-thermal energy.

The Great (Geothermal Research Education and Training) centre, which has been earmarked for the new Hawthorn Business Park, in east Durham, would be developed in partnership with Newcastle University.

The council has now pledged £35,000 for the feasibility study and business plan, which is expected to cost up to £250,000.

Additional funding is expected to come from a range of sources, including English Partnerships, Newcastle University and regional development agency One NorthEast.

Peter Coe, the district council's head of regeneration and partnerships, said the venture could create about 300 jobs.

He said: "This is an exciting project that would not only have a major impact on energy provision in the future, but would also form a key part of our vision for the long-term economic success of the district.

"Some locations lend themselves more readily than others to this type of technology. We need to demonstrate why the centre would be most appropriately located in Easington and nowhere else and, hopefully, the feasibility study will do that."

Geothermal energy harnesses the natural heat stored within the Earth, tapping into temperatures of up to 16C just a few metres below ground.

The university and the council first began looking into the possibility of establishing the centre in the district last year, when they jointly commissioned a study into the proposal.

The findings concluded that the combination of the district's unique geology, the research expertise of academics at Newcastle and Northumbria universities, and the thriving local economy made the area the ideal.

The new feasibility study and business plan will look at funding options, operating costs and possible designs for the building.

The centre is also likely to include a visitor centre and teaching and training rooms for higher education students and vocational trainees, as well as research and test laboratories.

The study will be accompanied by a consultation exercise, during which members of the public and private and community sector partners will be asked for their views. If the Great centre is approved it could be up and running within five years.