News

Australian Geothermal Conference opened

Alexander Richter 11 Nov 2009

The Australian Geothermal Energy Conference opened today with a record attendance of more than 400 and a strong representation of the Australian industry and international players.

Today, the Australian Geothermal Conference started here in Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. The conference has a record attendance of about 400 registrant and the trade show floor is much much bigger than at last year’s conference.

The conference was opened by Susan Jeanes, the Executive Director of the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA) this morning. The welcome and opening addresses were given by two ministers. Stephen Robertson the Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Minister for Trade for Queensland provided an overview on Queensland’s efforts in geothermal energy development and he drew a very positive picture of the development in this state. In the planning the state believes that 500 MW will be up and running by 2020.

The Federal Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism, the Hon. Martin Ferguson AM, MP, gave a very passionate address highlighting the fact of the support by the government to the geothermal sector in Australia. He referred to the drilling grants of AU$ 14 million provided in the last few months and the recently announced research grants of up to AU$150 million for Petratherm and Geodynamics.

Terry Kallis of Petratherm and the Chairman for AGEA talked about the efforts of the industry and the work of the Association, e.g. on the Geothermal Reporting Code. The code has been welcomed greatly and is being looked at as a model, e.g. in Canada by the Canadian GEA.

The last presentation of the early session of the conference was given by Barry Goldstein, the Director Petroleum and Geothermal Group (PIRSA) and the Chairman for the Australian Geothermal Energy Group (AGEG). He provided a good overview and a lot of data showing the potential for geothermal and the needs of the industry for the development. As usual a lot of content coming from Barry.

I have already posted some pictures of the conference on Flickr. (www.flickr.com/thinkgeoenergy)