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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN AUSTRALIA
Dr Doone Wyborn
Executive Director, Geodynamics Ltd
The Annual Four Societies Meeting: Engineering House, Milson’s Point,
23 February 2005
Hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy involves the injection of high pressure water to extract energy from granite at depths from 3 to 5 km and temperatures up to 280 oC. It differs from conventional geothermal resources which are much shallower and associated with volcanic activity.
Geodynamics Ltd has tenements in the Cooper Basin and in the Hunter Valley. Dr Wyborn’s lecture coincided with the near completion of the proof of concept phase of the Cooper Basin Project. The Company’s Cooper Basin tenements have energy reserves equivalent to 50 billion barrels of oil which is 12 times Woodsides’ reserves. Both Woodside Offshore Petroleum and Origin Energy are major investors.
The proof of concept phase involved the drilling of 2 wells Habanero 1 and 2. Major achievements included the discovery of connate water (10000 psi) within the granite, the mapping of the fractures within the rock; the use of sophisticated micro-seismic techniques to study the impact of high pressure water injection on the spread of fractures; and the modelling and evaluation of the system. During the micro-seismic study 15 000 events were observed over the 2 month period.
The technology involves the linking of state of the art oil drilling technology with the need to handle very hot fluids. Each technology is established, but the combination is new. Dr Wyborn outlined some of the practical problems and set backs including the jamming of a safety collar in a drilling rig.
The next stage of the investigation will involve the development of a 13 MWe pilot plant which is scheduled for completion in June 2006. Finally a 300 MWe plant based on 37 wells (21 injection and 16 production) will be constructed. Ultimately, the HDR energy resources will lead to a major greenhouse friendly source of electricity.
The excitement of Dr Wyborn flowed through to his audience with many questions on the economic and technical aspects of the project.
Note from the ANA: It is generally accepted that the bulk of geothermal energy is of radiogenic ie of nuclear origin! Indeed Dr Wyborn pointed out that uranium and thorium in the Cooper Basin granite generates 7 to 10 microwatts of heat.per cubic metre
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