State of Victoria reviewing geothermal progress in Australia
Esperance, West Australia (source: flickr/ Don Pugh Perth Western Australia, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
16 Oct 2013
Hot Rock Limited (HRL), has decided to reduce the current projects to two.
The current situation happened because Geothermal companies have been waiting with five-year exploratory licences in Victoria awaiting the money from investors. The permits that these companies had expired last year and even after the government gave them an extra 12 month period it is still unclear what the next step is. HRL executive chairman Dr Mark Elliott said “They’re forming a policy and deciding what to do with the geothermal projects. What we would like them to do is grant us another five-year permit so hopefully in that time we can see the investment market improve”
The Koroit project was regarded as a great option when first announced, promising jobs and money to the Koroit community. “We’ve kept Koroit … we believe that it’s the best geothermal project for potentially delivering in the near term,” Dr Elliott said.
The Dr. also mentioned that the Koroit project had been damaged even further by underwhelming results from enhanced geothermal systems — a separate method of extracting geothermal energy similarly to coal seam gas.
Source: Sean Mc Comish via The Standard
