$1.25m grant helps SACGER keep rocking on

One of the geothermal industry’s biggest technical challenges is about to be tackled, thanks to a $1.25 million grant from ARENA, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The University of Adelaide was awarded the grant for a research project that will investigate how the energy industry can produce economically viable flows from thermal wells in outback South Australia. The South Australian Centre for Geothermal Energy Research (SACGER) will lead the research.

This research could have significant implications for the development of a ‘near zero’ emission energy industry, according to SACGER director and chief investigator Professor Martin Hand.

“Tapping the full potential of this energy source requires that we gain a much better understanding of natural and engineered geothermal systems both within sedimentary basins and the rocks underneath them,” Professor Hand said.

South Australia is already home to the country’s most advanced geothermal energy projects, Hand said, but so far flow rates have been found to be slower than expected.

Professor Hand said that predicting the productivity of an area prior to drilling to ensure it will generate the required flow rates is the most significant technical challenge the Australian geothermal industry faces.

The SACGER project will investigate the causes of the low flow rates and ascertain how the industry can better evaluate a geothermal site’s quality before drilling commences. The researchers also hope to identify better targets for geothermal exploration and work out strategies to reverse the causes of low flow rates.

Other participants in the study include the CSIRO, Geodynamics Limited, Panax Geothermal Limited and the South Australian Department of Manufacturing, Industry, Trade Resources and Energy. The study is expected to conclude in September 2014.