Australian Treasury sees geothermal power as key in emission cuts
Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia (source: flickr/ yewenyi, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
6 Eyl 2011
While the Australian Treasury sees geothermal power as a key element in its carbon emission reduction scheme, there are critical voices with regards to likelihood and time.
The proposed carbon pricing regime introduced by the Australian government has created some hope for the Australian geothermal energy sector.
This particularly since the government, through its Treasury, has modeled projections that see the currently “embryonic geothermal power industry” as a crucial source of baseload electricity in Australia.
Under the model, the electricity generation industry will provide the biggest proportion of domestic emission cuts under the carbon pricing regime. Another element that makes geothermal hope, as putting a price on carbon makes coal-fired generation less and less competitive with renewable energy sources.
So while Treasury sees existing clean power technology, such as wind, pick up the largest market share within the next 15 years, geothermal will be key in going forward.
Consultants that worked for Treasury estimate that about 23% of total electricity generation will come from geothermal (Sinclair Knight Merz, SKM), or 13% (ROAM Consulting).
An article recently described these scenarios and discusses the likelihood of it happening. Looking at the state of the industry, the technology Australian firms need to apply to utilize geothermal energy, the long lead times and the current costs, the article is very critical of that scenario.
To read the full article see link below.
Source: “Treasury model puts the heat on geothermal“, Sydney Morning Herald
