Isra-Mart srl : Australia's first large-scale geothermal plant edges closer

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Australia's first commercial scale geothermal power plant looks set to come online next year after successful tests at the site in the state of Southern Australia.

In January, developer Petratherm completed an initial series of tests at the Paralana project which confirmed that small volumes of water could be successfully injected into wells drilled at the site.

The company is now planning to test larger volumes of water at a higher pressure in June, which will help determine whether a commercial flow rate between the injector and the eventual production well can be achieved.

Terry Kallis, the company's managing director, said that, if the test was successful, Petratherm could drill the well in the second half of 2011 and complete the final tests during the first half of 2012.

If all went to plan, the first stage of the proposed 3.75MW power plant could then be completed by the end of next year, he said.

"This is not a race and the sector has had its detractors, but we are now within a very real and measurable 18-month horizon of achieving maiden production," Kallis told Australia Associated Press during a conference in Adelaide.

Australia has some of the best geothermal resources in the world, but only three small scale plants are in operation, according to the Australian Geothermal Energy Association.

From July, the government will give developers a refundable tax offset against expenditure to overcome the high capital costs of geothermal energy exploration projects and encourage more large schemes like Paralana.

The project has received just under AU$70m (£46m) in government backing to date, and could scale-up to a 30MW plant supplying power to nearby uranium and coal mines.