Hot rock potential bubbles up Down Under

The use of geothermal energy is hotting up down under, after an Australian company launched a project it claims could provide up to 40 per cent of the country's household energy needs.

Green Rock said this week that it would begin drilling a series of geothermal reservoirs in South Australia early next year that could produce 400MW of electricity – enough to power 400,000 homes.

If the project – located at Olympic Dam near Adelaide – is a success, the western Australian-based firm hopes to develop similar systems around the world.

It is also hoping a $7m (£3.4m) grant will allow it to supply electricity to the national power grid.

Green Rock is one of over 30 firms in Australia developing geothermal reserves – where heat is taken from rock buried up to 5km below the earth's surface and transported to provide for space heating, or create steam to drive turbines and generate electricity.

The Australian government expects that hot rocks will supply 6.8 per cent of the country's total energy by 2030 – a six-fold increase on current levels.

The beauty of geothermal energy is that it is far cleaner to produce than traditional fossil fuel power, producing no harmful carbon dioxide gas. It is also a renewable, sustainable and commercially viable long-term solution that can produce more energy at significantly lower costs for consumers.

Australia's neighbour New Zealand is also making significant head-way when it comes to geothermal production. Government research agency GNS Science was last week awarded $2.6m in funding over three years to help the country bolster its geothermal power usage by 20 per cent by 2025.