Monday, 14 December
Results announced from the Second Round of the Geothermal Drilling Program:
$35m to five projects in four states
Martin Ferguson announced
yesterday on the results of the Round Two of the Geothermal Drilling program(GDP).
The $50m GDP was launched on 20 August 2008, during the 2008 AGEG/AGEA Australian
Geothermal Energy Conference. The program provided funding for proof-of-concept
geothermal drilling projects. The Commonwealth funds were to be matched dollar-per-dollar
with the company funds and each grant was capped at $7m. The first round announced
in march 2009 had two winners, Panax for the Limestone Coast project and Petratherm
for Paralana.
This second round, there were five winners:
- The Hot Rock Limited proof of concept project at Koroit in the Otway Basin,
Victoria will aim to define 'proven reserves' through the drilling and testing
of two deep deviated standard size production appraisal wells. Hot Rock's
project could result in the first geothermal pilot power plant in Victoria
by the end of 2010, followed by plans for a 10MW demonstration plant by 2012.
The Koroit project is about 30 kilometers northwest of Warrnambool and, according
to the Company, has Indicated and Inferred Geothermal Resources of 7.6 EJ
and 67 EJ.
- The Geodynamics proof of concept project in the Hunter Valley, New South
Wales will aim to drill two 4,500m holes followed by stimulation and flow
testing. Geodynamics believes this resource has the potential to support a
200 MW plant. The latest funding supplements the $10m granted in late 2009
under the NSW Climate Change Fund Renewable Energy Development Program to
develop a geothermal power plant in the Hunter Valley. The company holds two
tenements in NSW, EL5560 in Muswellbrook and EL5886 in Bulga.
- The Green Rock Energy project in Perth will aim to prove the geothermal
energy that is recoverable within the Perth Metropolitan Area. This resource
is significant as a demonstration of medium temperature geothermal resources
for commercial applications like air conditioning. Using this grant, the company
will drill two 3000-m geothermal wells, one production and injection. The
100oC fluid to be produced from the production well will power
absorption chiller plants to provide air conditioning for commercial buildings.
I think LiBr absorption cycle is being considered although I do not know if
a final decision has been made in that regard.
- The Greenearth Energy project near Geelong in Victoria will aim to drill
two wells into a hot sedimentary aquifer to a depth of up to 4 kilometres.
A sustained extraction and injection of hot fluids will be demonstrated from
wells co-located at the surface. The GDP grant announcement comes a week after
the Victorian Government award of $25m of staged funding towards a 12MW Geelong
geothermal demonstration plant. Preliminary work by Greenearth suggests that
the Geelong project eventually may have the potential to support a 140-MW
geothermal plant.
- Torrens Energy Parachilna project in South Australia aims to prove the expected
temperatures of the geothermal resource and the suitability as an enhanced
geothermal system(EGS) for generating power. Previous work by the company
indicates temperatures of 200+oC at approximately 4000m. If proven,
this would make the Parachilna project the hottest Australian geothermal project
located on the electricity grid. The inferred resource at Parachilna is 780
EJ.
The funding granted under the Geothermal Drilling Program is staged over the
duration of the exploration activity with the final amount payable following
the successful completion of ‘Proof of Concept’ drilling.
This last announcement brings the amount the Australian Commonwealth Government
has far committed to geothermal energy to over $200 million, leveraging a total
investment in excess of $720 million from private industry.
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