South Australia with best known EGS resources in the country

Alexander Richter 6 Feb 2009

In a presentation recently, the Managing Director of Petratherm (ASX:PTR) Terry Kallis highlighted the state of the geothermal industry in South Australia.

He talks about Australia having the “high heat producing granites, the continent being under compression and strong commitment from government and financial markets that are the key ingredients for developing successful EGS projects.” Further he points out that “South Australia has the best known EGS geothermal resources in Australia with approximately 90% of Australia’s activity (in this sector) focused in South Australia. But also the challenges are mentioned and while they contain those faced by geothermal developers worldwide they also are to some degree very much an Australian issue, like the cost of delivery to the market (proximity of the projects to the power grid or the demand), but also the issue of the lack of water.

In his presentation, he also gives an insight in the status of Petratherm’s activities and about the various companies in Australia. About AUD 200 million have been spent to date on geothermal development in Australia, with investment needs at about AUD 180 million for 2009 and more than AUD 250 million for 2010. It will be interesting to see how the companies will raise this money in the markets as they are today.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald