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Australian Hot Rocks for Emission-Free Energy

Tata, CLP Bet on Australian Hot Rocks for Emission-Free Energy By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Sheep shearers and tourists calling at the Innamincka Hotel in Australia’s outback will soon have their beer chilled by energy from rocks 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) underground.

The South Australian township (population 12) has been chosen by Brisbane-based Geodynamics Ltd. for a one-megawatt pilot project that will tap hot underground granite to generate electricity. The company says the area could produce as much as 10,000 megawatts of emission-free power, equivalent to 10 nuclear plants.

Tata Power Ltd., India’s biggest non-state electric utility, and Hong Kong’s CLP Holdings Ltd. are among those betting more than $750 million on geothermal exploration in Australia over the next 5 years. If it works, hot-rock technology could provide 5 percent of the country’s electricity by 2012, according to Melbourne-based consulting firm McLennan Magasanik Associates.

“It’s quite a marvel of nature,” said Jo Fort, co-owner of the hotel in Innamincka. “What to some eyes would be desolate country on top has this massive wealth underneath in the form of energy.”

Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand

February 19, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized