Preliminary estimates by the Clean Air Task Force indicate tapping 1% of Australia’s superhot rocks would provide the equivalent energy of 3 billion barrels of oil or 20 times the nation’s electricity use as of 2021.
Across parts of Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, superhot rocks are likely to be at depths of 4–8km, meaning they should be reachable with new technologies.
As a major mining nation, Australia has vast experience in subsurface exploration, world-leading geoscience research and strong engineering and technical capabilities.
The clear overlap between geothermal and Australia’s existing capabilities means scaling up the industry could also provide jobs for workers leaving fossil fuel industries.
Why hasn’t it happened yet? Upfront costs and uncertainty.
the Conversation LINK.
I used to be very enthusiastic about geothermal energy. the tech has developed and made easier to access, as this paper identifies, but so far the grants available from govt has had only 3 beneficiaries.
it seems the Govt, ie. Bowen, is fixated on solar and wind energy. and even these technologies are being misplaced, eg. wind turbines make much more energy when sited off shore, where the wind blow much more constantly and faster. instead they are planted on ridges and almost anywhere instead. this is grossly inefficient and wasting the valuable resource.
while this is a massive improvement from the past LNP govts, which preferred to ignore global warming and the need to reduce Fossil Fuels, its nowhere near good enough.
surely the country needs to tap every resource we have to reduce our dependence on FFs. Geothermal, according to this view and I urge readers to read the whole short piece linked, can improve our electricity certainty as it functions 24/7. I doubt it will provide enough, given your tardy govt, to provide that essential baseload generation, but it will help.
