Australia is an optimum place to develop geothermal energy projects due to our geologically stable conditions and vast resources.  This section is designed to provide visitors with a summary of the projects currently underway.

Australia has the hottest rocks, closest to the surface on Earth outside of volcanic areas and our geothermal industry is actively developing the resource here with a number of advantages:

Excellent resources for the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems and Hot Sedimentary Aquifer projects: Proof of concept already successfully established at an EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems or Hot Fractured Rock) project in the Cooper Basin; South Australia in March 2009. Security of exploration and development leases. Strong State and Federal Government support for success. A growing community of companies, researchers and government agencies working together to maximise progress at least cost. United voice for the industry through the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA); and World leading experts in the geothermal field integrated into the global research and development community.

A number of small geothermal projects already exist in Australia

• The Birdsville Organic Rankine Cycle Geothermal Power Station (Birdsville Plant) which produces 80kW, which is enough energy to power the town of Birdsville.  The Plant is Australia’s only Hot Sedimentary Aquifer project currently producing electricity.  The Birdsville Plant was originally built by the Capricornica Electricity Board and is now owned by Ergon Energy.  For more information about the Birdsville plant, visit www.ergon.com.au.
• Peninsula Hot Springs Bath House and Spa Centre in Victoria is a tourist destination where natural hot water flows from aquifers more than 600 metres below the surface.  The water temperature within the pools is between 37 – 43◦C and the pools are reputed to have healing properties. For more information, visit www.peninsulahotsprings.com.
• Numerous swimming pools, schools, commercial scale and domestic buildings across Australia use geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling. One of the largest and best known systems is installed at the Geoscience Australia building in Canberra. www.ga.gov.au
  

Australian geothermal development pipeline

Deep drilling projects currently underway

The following Australian geothermal companies have commenced deep drilling activities.

Panax Geothermal Limited

On 1 February 2010, Panax Geothermal Limited (Panax) announced commencement of drilling its first deep well, known as Salamander 1, at its Penola Project in the Limestone Coast area of South Australia.

Salamander 1 is a pioneering well within the Australian geothermal sector.  It is the first well to test a Hot Sedimentary Aquifer (HSA) resource.

Panax Geothermal advised it had finished drilling Salamander-1 well on 16 March 2010.
Panax has other projects underway both nationally and internationally.  To read more information about Panax's activities and the status of drilling at their Penola Project, visit the Panax website: www.panaxgeothermal.com.au. 

Petratherm Limited

Paralana Geothermal Energy Joint Venture Project
 
Petratherm's flagship Paralana geothermal energy project site is located adjacent to the Mt Painter region in South Australia's northern Flinders Ranges.
 
Petratherm and its joint venture partners, Beach Energy and TRUenergy Geothermal, have begun the process of tapping into this vast renewable energy resource to create Australia’s first base load, commercial geothermal energy plant.
 
In the second half of 2009, Paralana 2, the first injector well was drilled and cased to 3725 metres and recorded a temperature of 176°C at approximately 3,670 metres with modeled temperatures at 190°C at 4,000 metres.
 
In July 2011, the large scale fracture stimulation works were successfully completed.  The primary aim of the fracture stimulation was to create fractures in the subsurface at least 500 metres from the Paralana 2 well.  This was achieved and preliminary analysis suggests that the stimulated zone extends approximately 900 metres to the east of the Paralana 2 well at a depth of 3,500 to 4,000 metres.
 
In October 2011, hot fluids were recovered from the reservoir during a one week flow test.  The data collected will help the joint venture to better plan and design the future stage of the project – the drilling of Paralana 3.
 
The Paralana joint venture partners were awarded $62.8 million under the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Demonstration Program and a further $7.0 million under the Geothermal Drilling Program to support the drilling and commercial demonstration stages of the project.

To read more information about Petratherm's activities and the status of their Paralana Project, visit the Petratherm website: www.petratherm.com.au.

Geodynamics Limited

Geodynamics Limited (Geodynamics) is Australia’s most advanced geothermal energy developer, having drilled three deep wells (to > 4,000m) at its Habanero site, one at Savina and one at Jolokia all in the Cooper Basin, South Australia.  The company is also the only Australian Company to have achieved “Proof of Concept” to date.

Geodynamics is currently completing a work program to re-enter Jolokia 1, run a completion into the well and undertake hydraulic fracture stimulation of this well originally drilled in late 2008. This will demonstrate the creation and existence of an underground heat exchanger 9km away from that demonstrated at Habanero.

Following the stimulation of Jolokia 1 Geodynamics, and its Joint Venture  Partner, Origin Energy, plan to return to the Habanero site to drill Habanero 4 and Habanero 5. Following the drilling of these wells the Company plans to commission a 1MW Pilot Plant facility linked to this working doublet.

Geodynamics plans to take the investment decision to build a 25 MW commercial demonstration plant by early 2013, with a view to having the plant operational by early 2015.

Geodynamics has other projects underway in other states of Australia.  To read more information about Geodynamics and the status of their Cooper Basin project, visit the Geodynamics website: www.geodynamics.com.au

Realising the potential of geothermal energy

The Australian geothermal industry is focused on delivering low cost, reliable, base-load, emission free energy to all users across the national energy market - and all Australian geothermal energy companies are working toward realising this long-term goal.

Federal Government support shown to date for geothermal energy includes:

• The $50 million Geothermal Drilling Program (GDP) to assist geothermal project developers achieve “Proof of Concept”. $153m from the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program (REDP) to assist Geodynamics and Petratherm complete their demonstration projects at Innamincka and Paralana respectively.
  
• The $126m Emerging Renewables Program which supports the early development stages of projects.

Government grant recipients

A number of grants have been announced to date for both State and Federal Government funding initiatives.  An outline of the grants awarded under major schemes is below.  Please note that we have not detailed every individual grant received by every geothermal project on this page:

Renewable Energy Demonstration Plant funding recipients

• Petratherm Limited has been awarded $62.8 million for development of a commercial demonstration plant at their Paralana site.
• Geodynamics Limited has been awarded $90 million for development of a commercial demonstration plant at their Cooper Basin site.

Geothermal Drilling Program funding recipients - round 1

• Panax Geothermal Limited was awarded $7 million for their Limestone Coast Geothermal Project (Penola, SA) which is designed to deliver the first proof that conventional (HSA) geothermal resources within Australia's sedimentary basins can be used to generate large amounts of geothermal power.  For more information, visit www.panaxgeothermal.com.au.
• Petratherm was awarded $7 million for the company's Paralana Geothermal Energy Project (Paralana, SA), applying the Heat Exchanger within Insulator (HEWI) model.  For more information, visit www.petratherm.com.au.

Geothermal Drilling Program funding recipients - round 2

1. Geodynamics Limited has been offered a $7 million grant for drilling a deep well as part of the company’s Hunter Valley (NSW) Geothermal Project.  For more information, visit www.geodynamics.com.au.

Federal Government Education and Investment Fund grant
 
The CSIRO has been awarded a $47.3 million Federal Government grant through the Education Investment Fund Program (EIF) for the development of solar and geothermal energy technologies in support of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder project at both the Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory and the Pawsey High Performance Computing Centre.  For the geothermal component of the project, the funds provide for the drilling of a 3km stratigraphic well, followed by a production and injection well. It is anticipated that hot sedimentary aquifers in the Perth Basin will provide thermal energy to drive absorption chillers to meet the substantial cooling needs of the Pawsey Centre. GT Power P/L is the tenement holder of GEP 8 and is a contributing partner in the drilling of the stratigraphic well.
Visit www.gtpower.com.au

Australian Research Council Funding

Near Surface Geothermal Energy Pty Ltd and The University of Newcastle were successful in receiving ARC funding to develop strategies to combat underground coal fires and a proof of concept to validate the feasibility of production of geothermal energy from burning coal seams. This aspect has the potential to harvest large amounts of geothermal energy which is currently wasted. The following funding has been granted: 2010 $77,500, 2011 $167,500, 2012 $152,500, 2013 $62,500.

State Govt of Victoria - Energy Technology Innovation Strategy (ETIS)

Greenearth Energy Limited has been awarded $25M for Stage 1 (Proof of Concept) and Stage 2 (12MWe Demonstration)  for the company's flagship domestic project , the Geelong Geothermal Power Project located  northwest of the township of Anglesea Victoria.  For more information, visit www.greenearthenergy.com.au.

State Govt of Western Australia

Green Rock Energy Limited has been offered two grants totalling $295,000 under the WA Government's Exploration Drilling Incentive Scheme. The funds will be used by the Company for drilling in its Alkimos Permit near Perth and in two Urella Permits in the North Perth Basin.

Green Rock Energy Limited has been offered $5.4m as part of the 3rd round LEED (low Emissions Energy Development) Fund by the WA Govt for its geothermal drilling project at The University of Western Australia's Crawley Campus in Perth.

A Growing Industry

Interest in the development of Australian geothermal projects is  heating up. Some fast facts on the industry are outlined below:

• Since 2001, 57 companies have applied for 380 licences covering 360,000km2.
  
• There are now 24 Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed Geothermal Licence holders.
  
• Work programs for geothermal exploration activities are set to exceed AUD 3.1 billion by 2015.
• An Australian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Geothermal Resources and Geothermal Reserves has recently been published to ensure consistency and transparency across the industry.

(Page last updated October, 2011)