They're both hot sun and rocks

Monitor Roxby Downs
Thursday 10/4/2008 Page: 5

The potential to combine geothermal energy with that of the sun to create "hybrid" energy solutions is being examined by one of Australia's foremost geothermal developers, Petratherm Limited. 'the ASX-listed Petratherm says combining geothermal and solar energy into a hybrid is a natural evolvement for Australia's renewable energy hungry economy and is ideally suited to the public expectations for climate-driven greener energy.

Petratherm owns the advanced Paralana geothermal project in South Australia's northern Flinders Ranges which is expected to provide Australia's first commercial hot rocks electricity supply when it enters production early in 2010. "We are examining how geothermal and solar energy technologies can be united to form a hybrid solution;' Petratherm's Managing Director, Mr Perry Kallis, said. Mr Kallis said few other countries were blessed with Australia's solar footprint nor the natural abundance of its hot radiogenic granites.

Mr Kallis who is also the Deputy Chairman of the new Australian geothermal Energy Association said the company is examining the potential of combining solar with geothermal to 'top up' the heat from the underground reservoir. "'this could reduce the capital costs of drilling and improve the overall efficiency of energy production. "It is still early days but there could be significant infrastructure savings in particular by providing large-scale, base load power for remote or offgrid applications - notably in the booming mining sector, he said.

Mr Kallis said independent energy analysts, including the Electricity Supply Industry Association of Australia (ESAA), were tipping geothermal energy to supply 8% of Australia's total energy consumption as early as 2030 - equivalent to around 4,000 megawatts per annum. He said the geothermal sector was, however, stepping rapidly up to the challenge, with more than 33 hot rock explorers now active in Australia and around 277 geothermal exploration licences granted - most of them in South Australia.

The critical project issues facing all players, however, were a sufficient revenue stream that would be influenced in future by the price of carbon and competition amongst various power technologies in the national electricity market. Others include the significant capital cost of drilling, plant and grid connections and identifying and developing a thermal resource which offered sustained performance in temperature differential, volumes and achieved commercial rates of flow.

Petratherm is progressing its flagship JV Paralana Project and is planning to drill its first deep well in the second half of 2008. the project is being developed in conjunction with leading Australian energy group, the listed Beach Petroleum Limited. Petratherm and Beach have already completed the major seismic study to determine where best to locate the 4 kilometre deep heat exchanger well. Initial commercialisation of Paralana will involve the deployment of a 7.5 MW power station and expanding to 30 MW over time, to supply the nearby Beverley Uranium Mine.