Media Statement - 20th August 2008
The
Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, has
launched the $50 million Geothermal Drilling Program and told the
Australian Geothermal Energy Conference the industry has a significant
role to play in securing Australia's energy future.
The Geothermal Drilling Program will provide grants of up to $7 million on a matching funding basis to support the high cost of drilling deep geothermal wells and help finance proof-of-concept projects.
Minister Ferguson said: "The potential of the geothermal industry in Australia is truly staggering. Geoscience Australia estimates that if just one percent of Australia's geothermal energy was extracted, it would equate to 26,000 times Australia's total annual energy consumption."
Geothermal energy producers pump water below ground (sometimes as deep as 5km), where it is heated by 'hot rocks' and circulated through a closed system, with the heat energy used to generate electricity. Prospective geothermal resources have been identified in every Australian state.
Minister Ferguson said: "Geothermal energy provides clean base-load power and is potentially a very important contributor to Australia's energy mix in a carbon-constrained world.
"The Geothermal Drilling Program I am launching today will help get the industry over the short-term hurdle of high drilling costs and assist in developing the technologies and techniques needed to efficiently extract heat from deep below the earth's surface.
"The allocation of the Geothermal Drilling Program's $50 million will be competitive and merit-based and the funding guidelines released today will encourage collaborative partnerships and accelerate the development of this important emerging industry.
"We could now see Australia's first commercially viable geothermal power plants in place within four to five years."
The Geothermal Drilling Program is the first program to be launched under the Government's $500 million Renewable Energy Fund (REF) announced in the Budget 2008. The REF will accelerate the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable energy technologies in Australia.
The Australian Government has
set a target for 20 per cent of Australia's electricity generation to
come from renewable sources by 2020; a policy which will likely require
an additional 45,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity generation from
renewable sources.
NOTE: Information about the Geothermal Drilling Program and eligibility criteria can be downloaded from www.ret.gov.au.