Investor Presentaiton
INTRODUCTION
The earth's environment is the defining issue of our time and most of the world is working to reduce
the emission of greenhouse gases, primarily CO2. Globally, the electricity and heating sectors
account for a quarter of all emissions. And the world is looking for new and better ways to produce
abundant, affordable and reliable, emission-free energy.
Tasmania is aiming to assist Australia's transition to renewables by exporting at least 10,000GWh of
electricity per year to the mainland by 2040, to become the renewable energy Battery of the Nation.
This will require doubling of the State's current generation capacity*. Some of this will come from
pumped hydro and some from wind, but much more reliable power will be needed to meet this
commitment. Thus providing an excellent opportunity for Tasmania's large geothermal resources.
Geothermal energy, the natural heat of the earth, has been used for electricity generation for more
than a century. It is now gaining increased attention as the world seeks reliable, renewable energy.
However, Australia has been a notable exception to the global expansion of geothermal power. The
country focussed on geothermal for nearly a decade starting around 2003. Large sums of money
were spent but no power plants resulted and geothermal was effectively removed from Australia's
list of renewable energy options.
The main reason geothermal 'didn't work' in Australia was that the wrong target was being pursued.
Or, more correctly, Australia's geothermal efforts were ahead of their time. This is explained in
more detail later but in brief, globally, nearly all current geothermal plays are 'wet'; i.e., water and/
or steam from a hot reservoir is brought to the surface to drive the turbines. However, Australia
mostly focused on unconventional 'dry' plays which required heat exchangers to be engineered at
depth. Whilst technical successes were achieved, no viable flow rates were obtained.
The Lemont geothermal play in Tasmania was different from inception, with an equal focus on heat
and permeability. A very large inferred resource was defined but for several of the reasons ascribed
to geothermal's lack of success in Australia" there were insufficient funds to drill and the licence was
subsequently relinquished. The founders and backers of Spa*ark Energy Pty Ltd believe that Lemont
is too good to ignore: an opinion supported by recent independent modelling.
When developed, Lemont will provide an additional source of renewable and dispatchable power to
Tasmania and the National Energy Market, plus heat for a variety of flow-on industries.
All monetary values are in AUD unless otherwise stated.
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https://www.state growth.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/241112/TREAP.PDF
http://www.ga.gov.au/ausgeonews/ausgeonews 201306/geothermal.jsp
Geothermal power
plant, California
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