Australian geothermal sector asks for equality in financial support
The Australian geothermal sector is asking for climate change fund allocation that equals that of other renewables.
In Australia, there are now fears that federal government handouts to the fledgling geothermal energy industry might come to an end, leaving a funding gap that Prime Minister Julia Gillard could look to plug through her coming pre-election statement on climate change.”, so news from down-under.
She has at her disposal a $652 million fund, announced in the May budget, which is to be spent on renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Geothermal has been spruiked as the only genuinely emissions-free source of baseload electricity, but the technical difficulty of harnessing energy more than four kilometres beneath the earth’s surface means the industry will need to burn through a lot more cash before it can deliver on that potential.
Petratherm managing director Terry Kallis said the $200 million allocated to geothermal was far less than the amount set aside for other potential emissions-free baseload power options, particularly solar and carbon capture and storage, which aims to clean up coal-fired power stations.”
Source: Farmonline