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The Bullroarer - Wednesday 16 January 2008
Posted by Big Gav on January 16, 2008 - 5:38am in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
ABC - Energy firm aims to be first to produce hot rocks power
A hot rocks energy company says it is on target to generate electricity this year, making it the first to do so in Australia. Geodynamics is drilling for hot rocks in the far north-east of South Australia. It says it is only two weeks away from finishing its first well on a commercial scale, called Habanero Three.
The company's managing director, Gerry Grove-White, says this year it plans to prove the concept and install a small turbine. "If we are successful in our ventures this year, it's not just a success for Geodynamics but it shows the way forward for the whole of the geothermal industry, which quite frankly, can bring this zero carbon entity to market in a timescale which is much shorter than some of the other proposed technologies," he said.
The Australian - BHP oil report latest shot in Rio bid
BHP Billiton has taken the uncharacteristic step of reporting that its new Stybarrow oilfield off the West Australian coast is operating to capacity. Normally the world's largest resources company would leave production details to its quarterly production report. The report for the December quarter is scheduled for late next week. But Mr Yeager said in a statement that was not released to the stock exchange that Stybarrow, about 65km off Exmouth, was "exceeding expectations".
Stybarrow, which is half-owned by Woodside, was brought into production in November two to three months ahead of schedule. BHP is project operator. Woodside was cautious initially about the early performance, which was based on one well in the nearby associated Eskdale field.
But Mr Yeager said Stybarrow had achieved sustained production levels at planned capacity. "Stybarrow has been in production consistently at design capacity of 80,000 barrels a day," his statement said. One well had been producing about 32,000 barrels of oil a day, a near record performance for a West Australian well.
Stybarrow was discovered in the Exmouth sub-basin in 2003 in a water depth of about 825m. It and the Eskdale field are estimated to have recoverable reserves in the range of 60-90 million barrels of oil.
Greens Blog - 2008 - the year peak oil joins climate change at the top of the agenda?
The Australian - Plover and out for methanol hopeful MEO Australia
SHARES in export methanol hopeful MEO Australia collapsed yesterday after the company finally announced defeat in attempting to produce results from the Plover formation in the Timor Sea's Bonaparte Basin. MEO Australia managing director Chris Hart, in a statement to the stock exchange, said it had been decided to cease the re-drilling of the Plover formation in the Heron-2 well because of technical issues encountered with the side-tracking of the well.
SMH - NSW Parliament House Water scheme scratches surface
The Australian - ERA increases Ranger uranium production
The Australian - No uranium sales until India signs NPT
The Australian - Gas flow from Crux a gusher for Nexus
The Australian - Deal makes Sydney Gas a methane player
SMH - Global warming to impact health: study
Marlborough Express - Solar Hot Water: Smiling all the way to the bank
NZ Herald - New Zealand biofuel flows in April
NZ Herald - Solar car's odyssey sells a vital message
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Since I've predicted that hot fractured rocks geothermal won't succeed, I'll be scrutinising the results of the turbine trial. The output will have to have some commercial realism in relation to past and future costs. For example past costs should exclude one-off government grants and future costs should include transmission to paying customers.
I've also thought of a wild card that may or may not emerge in future; hot granite undergoes plastic deformation and can squeeze tight on cavities. Some old mine tunnels have undergone this sphincter-like process in much cooler rock. Granite is however perhaps 15 orders of magnitude less viscous than volcanic rock and also more brittle. See http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/structge/strsparm.htm
Of course if I'm wrong this could be the long awaited renewable baseload.
A major part of the cost of hot rocks geothermal is the drilling, which must of course be incurred up front. This investment could be lost instantly if either the water comes up insufficiently hot due to short circuiting or not at all due to shifting of the reservoir.
The power generation could go from full on to caput without warning, and the down time would be months. Pretty shaky for base load.
Also how far from the hot water can the power plant be without losing too much heat in transit? Becomes an issue if the wells have to be shifted from time to time.