Australia’s geothermal industry gets a boost 27 July 2010 Australia’s geothermal industry has been given a boost by the establishment of a new state industry body designed to accelerate the development and commercialisation of geothermal energy resources. The Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA) has opened a chapter in Victoria to represent geothermal companies and help the geothermal industry to grow in that state. “Geothermal energy is one of the few renewable energy technologies which can provide 24 hour base-load power for our electricity grid,” said the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor. “In Victoria, there appears to be significant potential to produce geothermal energy from naturally occurring hot water reservoirs deep beneath the earth’s surface,” he said. The AGEA announcement came at the same time as the release of a geological study of the Otway Basin, in south-west Victoria. This study will assist in the exploration of new oil and gas fields, as well as for geothermal energy and geological carbon storage sites. “The study identifies and maps out the geological characteristics of aquifers that formed deep underground tens of millions of years ago when the continental crust between Australia and Antarctica split apart,” the Minister said. He added that both the onshore and offshore parts of the basin, from south-west Victoria to south-east South Australia, were included in the study, which was commissioned by GeoScience Australia, GeoScience Victoria, and Primary Industries and Resources South Australia. The Otway Hot Sedimentary Aquifers study can be downloaded at www.3dvictoria.dpi.vic.gov.au. More information |