www.greenearthenergy.com.au
Greenearth Energy (ASX: GER) is a diversified Australian renewable energy company that has interests in conventional geothermal resources in Australia, Indonesia and the wider Pacific Rim as well as technology opportunities and project applications in the waste heat recovery, energy efficiency, combined heat and power solar and CO2 to fuel conversion markets.
Greenearth Energy's projects and technologies are designed to deliver energy security outcomes in a carbon constrained world.
The company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on the 4 February 2008.
Greenearth Energy kicks off survey to better understand Latrobe Valley geology
Greenearth Energy (ASX: GER) has commenced its magneto-telluric (MT) ground geophysical survey in the Latrobe Valley and onshore Gippsland Basin (GEP 12 & 13) regions of Victoria in order to better understand the geology and to define the depth of older basement rocks beneath the sediments.
The MT survey consists of approximately 40 survey points and will traverse the Latrobe Valley between Glengarry North and Willung South at 1 km intervals and will be conducted by Perth based Moombarriga Geoscience Pty Ltd.
The Latrobe Valley is ideally placed to become a significant geothermal production region and Greenearth Energy holds the exclusive rights to explore for and develop its geothermal resources.
It is Victoria’s main power generation hub, is home to a number of high energy consuming and large CO2 producing industries, and currently 22% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions emanate from this strategically important region.
Mark Miller, managing director, said "as we seek to develop our future energy security in a carbon constrained world, new “clean” energy sources such as geothermal which is base load and emissions free must be explored and developed."
"The thick coal measures found within the Latrobe Valley are unique, and provide for excellent thermal insulation which increases the prospectivity of the area for geothermal resource development.”
The MT geophysical method is a passive technique that uses a series of coils and electrodes buried at shallow depths in the ground to record naturally occurring electric (telluric) currents that flow through the earth that are induced by natural variations in the earth’s magnetic field.
These variations may be used to calculate the resistivity of the ground which may vary depending on the local geology. At each station (site) measuring equipment is installed for approximately 24 hours, after which the equipment is removed and the site fully rehabilitated.
Knowledge of the basement depth and structure may act as an indirect method for determining the location of potential hot sedimentary aquifer geothermal systems.
Previous work has indicated that the Latrobe Valley is highly prospective for Hot Sedimentary Aquifer style geothermal systems that utilise existing permeable aquifers at depth beneath thick sedimentary sequences.
The thick coal layers throughout the Latrobe Valley provide excellent thermal insulation which helps trap heat beneath and enhances the temperature at depth.
