Margaret Paul
Posted
The New South Wales government is hoping exploration for hot rocks in the state's west could result in more renewable energy.
It has lodged exploration applications to drill for geothermal energy near Wilcannia, Pooncarie and Cobar.
The Program Director for Coal Innovation in the Department of Trade and Investment, Rick Fowler, says there is potential for the areas to be mined for renewable energy.
"This is all new technology that's at very early stage," he said.
"It could be used to supplement coal-fired power stations or gas-fired power stations, it could be as a stand-alone form of renewable energy, it's all to be looked at into the future."
Mr Fowler says the government will collect the data, which will then be made available for companies to use.
"We do what's known as electronic testing down the hole to get an understanding of the geology of the hole," he said.
"We also take core samples, so once you drill you also take a significant amount of core from that hole, and that is then placed in our core library, and that allows explorers to come and look at that core, and take samples of that core away for their exploration."
He said it is too early to say how much energy could be mined at the three sites.
"There are some indications from surface knowledge and satellite knowledge that that area of Australia has potential," he said.
"There's also potential around the Newcastle area as well, and there is some exploration going on in the Sydney-Newcastle area, very limited at the moment."
Mr Fowler says the remote sites could also be used as part of the government's carbon capture and storage program.
"We could look at it for possible storage sites for carbon dioxide in the future as well so there's significant outcomes from this drilling program," he said.
Topics: geothermal-energy, alternative-energy, mining-industry, mining-rural, energy, business-economics-and-finance, state-parliament, wilcannia-2836, cobar-2835, pooncarie-2648
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