The University of Queensland
Company Profile
In September 2007 the Government of Queensland, Australia, made a major investment along the path towards a clean energy future. Responding to a proposal from The University of Queensland (UQ), the Government committed AU$15 million to the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence at UQ, Brisbane, which will have a research and development focus on energy derived from subterranean hot rocks. The $15 million is being met by a $3.3 million contribution of expertise and other resources from UQ, making this the largest investment in geothermal energy research in Australia.
The Australian continent has abundant unexploited reserves of hot rocks: fractured granites at least three kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface, heated to up to 250°C. The Cooper and Eromanga Basins of Queensland and the neighbouring state of South Australia have particularly strong prospects because they are believed to have some of the world’s hottest fractured granites, which hold sufficient water to supply the needs of a power plant without depleting the natural aquifer.
The resource is large enough to supply Australia for 6000 years at current levels of demand. Geothermal energy will become price-competitive vis-à-vis conventional power when the cost of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is factored in, and it is estimated that the Cooper and Eromanga Basins could generate 4000MW of baseload by 2030. This will make geothermal power a realistic element of a mix of energy sources to supply industry, government and households.