Yarram Standard News
Wednesday 14/5/2008 Page: 3
Yarram will be the centre of a search for geothermal energy, paving the way for a possible multi-million dollar investment. Victorian-based company Greenearth Energy is planning to explore the district for sources of water heated to steam by extreme temperatures in hydrothermal geothermal systems deep beneath the ground.
In ample supply, the steam could be powerful enough to turn turbines to produce electricity, with minimal greenhouse gases. Greenearth Energy last year received a permit from the Victorian Government to explore the Yarram district through to the Latrobe Valley and Sale. Company director Rob Annells said geothermal heat was found at Yarram by drillers searching for oil and gas on behalf of sister company, Lakes Oil.
"Lakes Oil drilled a well at Seaspray four years ago and they had hot water and steam come to the surface at 89 degrees. That was at 220m deep and we believe that if we go deeper, we could get hotter water," he said. "We have a cooperative arrangement with Lakes Oil and we collect samples from their oil wells and there are some in the Yarram area.."
Mr Annells said a viable geothermal system must have suitable temperature and volume of water. "If we get those two things, there is every reason that we could generate non-polluting power," he said. "But until we drill the holes, we are only surmising." The company will initially concentrate exploration efforts in the Latrobe Valley, close to existing electricity networks and major industry that could become customers.
"We are talking to a number of people in the region. We think we can lend a hand in the Latrobe Valley with coal drying, just as long as we can get hot water there," Mr Annells said. "As far as industry is concerned, they are big users of heat that at the moment use gas as well as electricity, so there is the possibility that we could generate environmentally friendly heat for them". Exploration efforts in the Yarram district will entail drilling up to three test holes, possibly up to 3km deep. "Until somebody does it, we don't know whether we're right or wrong. We need to step out and take that risk," Mr Annells said.
Another company, Sydney based Granite Power, has the licence to explore south and west Gippsland. Managing director Stephen de Belle said a 'clear target' has been identified five to 10km south of Warragul, towards Leongatha. "It's a properly delineated body of heat that we can develop. It could support two to three 250MW power stations, much smaller than those in the Latrobe Valley, but we're talking about greenhouse-free electricity," he said.
Another site south-west of Warragul has indicated heat between one and two kilometres below the surface. That heat could be used for power generation or by industry, Mr de Belle said. "We only have generalised data at this stage," he said. Underground heat can be harnessed via two systems: in hydrothermal geothermal systems, deep groundwater that has been naturally heated to steam temperatures is brought to the surface and used to turn turbines.
In dry rock systems. water is injected into hot rocks and returned to the surface once heated. In response to strong industry interest in exploration for geothermal energy, the Victorian Government recently released 19 new Victorian exploration areas. Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said the new exploration areas were located mostly in the Wimmera, in the north of the state, and also East Gippsland, and covered more than 154,000 square kilometres.
"The Brumby Government is taking action on climate change and with the rapid improvement of geothermal technology, now is the ideal time for exploration of and investment in Victoria's geothermal resources," Mr Batchelor said. He said the government, through the Victorian Renewable Energy Target scheme, aimed to increase energy generated from renewable sources to 10 per cent by 2016.
"Geothermal energy has the potential to provide clean and reliable energy, with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions, because it is generated from naturally occurring heat from hot rock and water reservoirs deep beneath the earth's surface," Mr Batchelor said. He said the close proximity of high voltage electricity transmission lines to potential geothermal energy sources made Victoria extremely attractive for geothermal investment because it reduced infrastructure costs.
The tender process follows 12 permits for geothermal exploration being granted in 2007 to five companies, which have committed to spending a total of $64 million over five years to explore for geothermal energy sources. People around the world use geothermal energy to produce electricity, to heat buildings and greenhouses, and for other purposes.
Electricity is now produced from geothermal energy in 21 countries and has been successfully used as a source of energy by the Romans, Chinese and native Americans for bathing, cooking, heating and spas. Water from hot springs is now used worldwide for heating buildings, for agriculture and industrial uses. Some visible features of geothermal energy are volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles. Usually geothermal energy is deep underground. There may be no clues above ground to what exists below ground.
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