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Australian firms mutually terminate drilling grant funding and hail new program

Australian firms mutually terminate drilling grant funding and hail new program Drilling crew of Geodynamics at work (source: Geodynamics)
Alexander Richter 8 Aug 2011

In a joint statement Australian listed geothermal explorers Torrens Energy Limited, Green Rock Energy Ltd, Greenearth Energy Ltd and Hot Rock Limited announce termination of their geothermal drilling grant funding with the Australian government.

In a joint statement, “Australian listed geothermal explorers Torrens Energy Limited (ASX:TEY), Green Rock Energy Ltd (ASX:GRK), Greenearth Energy Ltd (ASX:GER) and Hot Rock Limited (ASX:HRL) wish to advise that they have mutually executed Deeds of Termination with the Australian Government for their Geothermal Drilling Program (GDP) grant funding.

The Companies were each competitively assessed and selected through a rigorous technical and financial merit assessment. Projects span a range of geological environments and represent some of the highest quality potential geothermal development projects in Australia. Regrettably current economic conditions over the past year combined with the agreed construct of the GDP grant has limited project recipients’ ability to attract project funding and thus fulfil all the requirements of their GDP grants in the timeframes stipulated.

In July 2011 the Australian government announced its Clean Energy Future package which includes a carbon price of $23/tonne of CO2 and $13.2 billion in clean energy funding initiatives. The package which includes the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the 3.2 billion Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will cut pollution and drive investment in new clean energy sources, such as geothermal.

Geothermal remains the Country’s only potential large scale zero-emission renewable base- load 24/7 energy source, and this has been recognised with the announcement today by the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP within the Australian government’s Emerging Renewables program.

The Emerging Renewables program aims to reduce the costs of new technologies, improve skills across the renewable energy industry, and leverage finance from the private sector as well as state and territory governments.

The Emerging Renewables program will have funding of $126 million with geothermal companies well placed to benefit from the new program design with at least one third of the total program funding expected to be available to support the development of geothermal energy in Australia.”

The announcement was signed by: John Canaris (Managing Director, Torrens Energy), Richard Beresford (Managing Director, Green Rock Energy), Mark Miller (Managing Director, Greenearth Energy), Mark Elliott (Executive Chairman, Hot Rock Limited).

Source: Joint release via Noodls