Advanced Conventional Koroit Hot Sedimentary Aquifer Geothermal Project

president1981
Sep 5
2 min read

AGA Corporate Member Victorian Geothermal Energy Company is progressing their Koroit geothermal project in Western Victoria.

The Koroit Project is an advanced hot sedimentary aquifer geothermal project located in the Otway Basin, south-western Victoria, Australia. A suite of innovative technologies is significantly reducing the cost of developing new geothermal projects, making them commercially viable and an increasingly important option in the baseload renewable energy mix. These technologies apply to a range of global next-generation (Next-Gen) geothermal project types, including Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS - Open-loop), Advanced Geothermal Systems (AGS – closed-loop), and the conventional Hot Sedimentary Aquifer Systems (HSA - open-loop).

Six petroleum wells and extensive seismic surveys have outlined the Koroit geothermal resource in a permeable, naturally fractured, fine to coarse-grained sandstone reservoir. An estimated indicated and inferred resource of 66,100 PJ (P50) to a depth of 4km can generate 1,400MW for 30 years, based on the extraction of 15% of the in-ground stored heat (Figure 1). The top of the reservoir is located at the 130 °C isotherm in the Crayfish Subgroup, at a depth of approximately 2.8km. The geothermal gradient is up to 46°C per kilometre.

The naturally occurring faults and fractures in the sandstone reservoir formed during pull-apart tectonics, resulting in multiple half-graben structures. Primary and secondary permeability from the tectonic events indicate that fracking is not required.

A 500kV transmission line passes through the northern part of the 100% - owned 450 sqkm geothermal retention lease, GRL007012.

A proof-of-concept testing program is underway to refine the selection and design of the first two drill targets by reprocessing seismic data to enhance the definition of the geothermal reservoir, as well as the location of major and minor faults. It is planned to drill the reservoir with two deviated appraisal production wells, carry out flow testing and temperature monitoring, followed by a feasibility study.