The centre - a collaboration between the CSIRO, the University of Western Australia and Curtin University - has received a $2.3 million funding grant from the State Government, as announced by Premier Alan Carpenter last Friday.

In its role as principal supporter and collaborator, geothermal exploration company Green Rock Energy said it would provide direct research support and fund several PhD and honours students undertaking work in this area.

Under the direction of Professor Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, the centre will consolidate and extend the multi-scale heat transfer modelling of geothermal aquifers.

This work is designed to enable the economic exploitation of potential moderate temperature heat sources, as well as geothermal direct heat use technologies, including desalination of seawater.

Green Rock said the collaborative research would provide it with additional technical and scientific input into the targeting of specific site locations in hydrothermal resources.

Also through the support of a demonstration distillation desalination plant, the company expects to receive the modelling required for the design of a commercial scale geothermal powered desalination plant.

Green Rock Energy already has three geothermal projects in South Australia, at Olympic Dam, Patchawarra and Upper Spencer Gulf as well as joint geothermal projects in Hungary.

The WA research centre is following in the footsteps of a similar facility in Queensland announced last September.