Make most of our natural assets in producing power Go geothermal

Adelaide Advertiser
Friday 22/1/2010 Page: 20
Opinion

I SUPPORT David Noonan, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, (The Advertiser, 20/1/10) with regard to power sources for the proposed Roxby Downs mine. If the expansion goes ahead, why not kick-start South Australia's fledgling geothermal power industry by building a transmission line from a geothermal power station to Roxby Downs? Is BHP Billiton afraid that if we develop geothermal resources, using the heat from natural radioactive decay of rocks in situ, Australia will not need power from induced nuclear fission, that is, nuclear energy stations using uranium? Why not build the desalination plant on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula, where there is access to deep ocean water, which can disperse salt, and plenty of wind to generate power, and with a possibility of using wave or tidal power?

Margaret Dingle. Norwood.