Hot Rocks
Spurred by the need to reduce the impacts of climate change and Australia's reliance on fossil fuels, more than 33 geothermal energy companies are exploring Australia to harness hot rock temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius and provide renewable energy. Australia is recognized as being home to the hottest rocks outside of volcanic areas in the world, with the largest resource in the Cooper Basin region.
Geodynamics Limited has drilled two deep geothermal wells to a depth of 4.5 kilometre (named Habanero 1 and Habanero 3 after the world’s hottest chilli variety) and has constructed the Innamincka 1 MW Power Station to provide free renewable energy power to Innamincka in 2009. The Company is continuing drilling in other areas of their tenement to establish a proven resource prior to the construction of a 500 MW power station to be operating by 2015.
To generate electricity, water is pumped down the injection well where it travels through fractures in the granite capturing the naturally occurring heat and is forced up the production well at extremely high pressure. The heat is extracted from the water and converted into electricity using a steam turbine and the cooled water is returned back into the ground to heat up again in a closed loop.
See the display at the Innamincka Hotel for up to date information on this revolutionary project or visit Geodynamics’ Visitor Centre. (This last option will change to a hyperlink in the future once we have established a web page that provides opening hours and facilities information.)
Spurred by the need to reduce the impacts of climate change and Australia's reliance on fossil fuels, more than 33 geothermal energy companies are exploring Australia to harness hot rock temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius and provide renewable energy. Australia is recognized as being home to the hottest rocks outside of volcanic areas in the world, with the largest resource in the Cooper Basin region.
Geodynamics Limited has drilled two deep geothermal wells to a depth of 4.5 kilometre (named Habanero 1 and Habanero 3 after the world’s hottest chilli variety) and has constructed the Innamincka 1 MW Power Station to provide free renewable energy power to Innamincka in 2009. The Company is continuing drilling in other areas of their tenement to establish a proven resource prior to the construction of a 500 MW power station to be operating by 2015.
To generate electricity, water is pumped down the injection well where it travels through fractures in the granite capturing the naturally occurring heat and is forced up the production well at extremely high pressure. The heat is extracted from the water and converted into electricity using a steam turbine and the cooled water is returned back into the ground to heat up again in a closed loop.
See the display at the Innamincka Hotel for up to date information on this revolutionary project or visit Geodynamics’ Visitor Centre. (This last option will change to a hyperlink in the future once we have established a web page that provides opening hours and facilities information.)
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