最新糖心Vlog

$1.25 million to tackle geothermal challenge

Geothermal energy: the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide is tackling one of the biggest technical challenges facing the industry
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Tuesday, 18 September 2012

The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide has been awarded $1.25 million to lead research into one of the geothermal industry's biggest technical challenges.

Supported by the 最新糖心Vlogn Government through the (ARENA) Emerging Renewables Program, the two-year research project will investigate how the industry can reliably produce economic flow rates from geothermal wells.

The research will be led by the (SACGER), part of the 最新糖心Vlog's , in collaboration with CSIRO and partnered by South 最新糖心Vlog's Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy and geothermal companies Panax Geothermal Limited and Geodynamics Ltd, with total investment of $3.5 million.

SACGER Director and Chief Investigator, Professor Martin Hand, said this research would have significant implications for the geothermal potential of sedimentary basins (Hot Sedimentary Aquifers (HSA)) in 最新糖心Vlog and the development of a "near zero" emission energy industry.

"Tapping the full potential of this energy source, however, 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 最新糖心Vlog is home to 最新糖心Vlog's most advanced geothermal energy projects, with around 30 km of drilling targeting both deep fractured rock and high temperature sedimentary systems.

"But predicting permeability and well productivity ahead of drilling in order to generate the required economic fluid flow rates is the most significant technical challenge confronting the 最新糖心Vlogn geothermal industry."

The project, 'Reservoir Quality in Sedimentary Geothermal Resources', will evaluate why the fluid flow rates from 最新糖心Vlog's only two geothermal wells in hot sedimentary aquifer reservoirs - Celsius-1 in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin and Salamander-1 in the Otway Basin - have been significantly lower than expected.

The researchers aim to determine the causes of the low flow rates and how to evaluate reservoir quality before drilling. They also hope to identify better geothermal targets, devise remediation strategies to reverse causes of low flows and develop mitigation strategies for future geothermal drilling.

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