A renewable energy company is now based at the site of the former Ashington Colliery, a disused coal mine.
Jörd Energy, which specialises in commercial and residential ground source heat pumps and solar panel installations, has also recently taken on an investment banker as its Joint Managing Director.
Ian Goodwin has joined Garry Coulson to help run the business, which employs 20 local people.
Mr Goodwin said: “I am delighted to be joining Garry in the launch of Jörd. At its height, Ashington was regarded as the world’s largest coal-mining village and Jörd will continue the tradition of harvesting the energy reservoir in the ground beneath our feet.
“However, in our case, we will not be extracting carbon in the form of coal, simply heat from the ground. Ground source heat pumps provide the lowest running cost of any heating system.”
Elsewhere in geothermal energy, a project in western Indonesia has been given a financing package worth $109 million (£87m).