www.panaxgeothermal.com.au
Panax Geothermal is a pure geothermal company with access to some of the worlds most promising geothermal assets. As climate change projections worsen, Panax Geothermal is well positioned to commercialise sustainable sources of base-load energy, powered from the Earth.
The long term vision of Panax is to become a major participant in the geothermal industry, both nationally and internationally. The scope of its geothermal interests will be broad, including both conventional geothermal resources (volcanic related) as well as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) such as hot fractured rock (HFR) geothermal systems.
Panax Geothermal well drilling closer to target depth
Drilling of the Salamander-1 well in the Otway Basin near Penola, South Australia by Panax Geothermal (ASX: PAX) will achieve target depth of 4,000 metres by mid-March.
Dr Bertus de Graaf, managing director of Panax said the drilling rig was meeting expectations and Salamander-1 is on track to "reach its targets and the advancement of geothermal energy as a major power source in Australia is on its way to becoming a reality.”
The well aims to onvert part of the Penola Geothermal Project’s “Measured Geothermal Resources” into “Geothermal Reserves” sufficient to commence the development of a 5.9 MW (net) plant.
The proximity of the project to the national electricity transmission grid, meant Panax had one of the few renewable energy projects in the country capable of powering thousands of homes without requiring costly new grid connections.
He said today, this meant Panax the closest to achieving commercialisation of base load geothermal energy.
The Penola Geothermal Project uses proven technology and is the first geothermal well in Australia to test a Hot Sedimentary Aquifer (HSA), which relies on extracting existing hot water from an existing aquifer or HSA reservoir.
By exploring exisiting reservoirs containing hot geothermal fluids, which has fewer risks than hot fractured rock geothermal projects, Panax's development time for the project is much shorter.
An independently reviewed pre-feasibility study has shown Panax’s Penola Project has the potential to generate cheap base-load, clean energy with the Company planning to have a demonstration power plant in operation by 2011, subject to results of Salamander-1.
Dr de Graaf said further expansion could lead to a geothermal power station more than ten times larger by 2014.
The Hon. Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism was at the Salamander-1 Well Site, where the Minister unveiled a plaque commemorating the pioneering status of the well.
