I’ve written before about a few different solar and wind projects, but so far, I haven’t talked about geothermal because I hadn’t heard of many interesting projects in Australia.
So I was pleased to read today about how Green Rock Energy is set to build Western Australia’s first commercial-scale geothermal energy project.
The great thing about geothermal is that it doesn’t have the intermittent supply problems that affect wind and solar, and can generate power all day everyday. In fact, this is why geothermal is being tipped as a great substitute for base load power from coal-fired power stations.
Green Rock Energy will tap the hot water aquifers that lie deep beneath Perth to provide geothermal-powered air conditioning for the University of Western Australia, the first project of its type in Australia.
After securing the geothermal exploration project for the metropolitan area, Perth-based Green Rock has struck a deal to provide geothermal-powered absorption chillers for UWA, replacing 5 megawatts of grid-based energy used to power conventional chillers.
And if that works well, chief executive Adrian Larking hopes the UWA project will be expanded, and the company hopes to strike a deal to provide heating and cooling to the new 40,000-home Alkimos housing estate to be built north of Perth, which could replace 50MW of power.
Check out the press release here.
