The Perth-based company, which has geothermal assets in Olympic Dam, South Australia and is part of a new joint venture in Hungary, yesterday said the technology has wide-ranging environmental and commercial advantages.
“Geothermal power is the most environment friendly of all the renewable and non-renewable power sources,” managing director Adrian Larking told a corporate file Open Briefing.
“The footprint on the land is the smallest of all power sources, the visual impact is minimal as the building housing the power plants has a low profile.
“Zero emissions and green house gases are produced because of the enclosed nature of the water flow of the hot dry rock geothermal process."
Unlike other renewable energy sources, geothermal energy is a baseload power source that doesn't require backup or storage systems, according to Larking.
He said the company’s preliminary studies indicate it could develop a 500MW plant with a life of more than 40 years.
“Green Rock Energy intends to become a developer of renewable, clean, green geothermal energy projects with a strong commercial focus,” Larking said.
“The company is looking to take projects from greenfield to production by developing geothermal projects with near-term cash flow generation potential.
“It will achieve this by identifying projects that have excellent commercial potential from their location close to existing infrastructure, access to existing power lines and markets and attractive energy sale prices.”
Larking said the move would enable the projects to be scaled up in stages as the geothermal resources are tapped.
“The company plans to benefit from increasing demand for renewable energy, expectations of continuing increases in electricity prices, especially those derived from fossil fuels, and expectations of reducing capital and operating costs,” he said.
Earlier this month, Green Rock entered a Hungarian JV through an acquisition of Australian company Vulcan Geothermal.
The JV is aiming to establish the first geothermal power plant in eastern Europe. Green Rock said the move was part of its plan to expand its international reputation in the sector.
The JV, which includes Hungarian oil and gas company and operator MOL and Icelandic geothermal developer Enex, will test existing but shut-in or out-of-use petroleum wells for the generation of geothermal energy.
The company also wholly owns the Olympic Dam Geothermal Energy project in South Australia that comprises 2899 square kilometres of geothermal tenements around BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper mine.
It hopes to develop a geothermal power plant there with capacity in excess of 500MW to supply electricity to the mine and surrounding area.
