The Cost of Geothermal Heating in Victoria and Western Australia and Opportunities to Scale-up

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Martin Pujol of JRG Energy will present this webinar focussing on the economic benefits of two direct use geothermal projects.

Abstract: The Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre (GRAC) opened in the town of Traralgon, Victoria, Australia early in 2021. The Beatty Park Leisure Centre (BPLC) is reaching 10-years of operation in North Perth, Western Australia. Both centres utilise geothermal energy heating system as an alternative to conventional natural gas furnaces. The GRAC uses geothermally heated groundwater at 68°C from a 650 m deep production well while the BPLC uses 49°C groundwater from a 1,150 m deep production well. In both cases all heat depleted groundwater is injected back into the source aquifer. Circulated volumes are approximately 350 million litres per year and 550 million litres per year for the two projects.

In this webinar we will first describe the geology, hydrogeology and geothermal background for each projects. Then we will examine 1 full year and 10 full years of heat production from each of the geothermal systems and compare the economic performance against equivalent heat production by natural gas. The results will provide an indication of the breakeven price of geothermal energy in each state. Our economic assessment indicates that geothermal energy is already significantly cheaper than gas over its life cycle.

Australian industry accounts for 44% of the nation’s end use energy and 52% of that is process heat. Australian industry accounts for 44% of the nation’s end use energy and 52% of that is process heat. Opportunities to scale-up geothermal heating for large industrial processes (e.g. greenhouses, aquaculture, drying processes, industrial hot water processes, etc.) is huge and has the potential to contribute significantly to Australia’s net-zero ambitions. Low hanging fruit opportunities will be discussed in conclusion.