positions advertised, page-4

I disagree monnaie - as posted previously GDY will surely get a piece of this funding:


DJ Australia's Energy Min Starts A$50M Geothermal Drill Program20/08/2008 12:30PM AEST
CANBERRA (Dow Jones)--A A$50 million geothermal drilling program subsidized by the government was started Wednesday by Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, who believes the industry has tremendous potential.

The program provide grants of up to A$7 million on a matching funding basis to support the high cost of drilling deep geothermal wells and help finance proof-of-concept projects, he said in a statement issued to coincide with a speech at an industry conference.

"The industry has a significant role to play in securing Australia's energy future" as the process could provide emission free, base-load power, he said.

If just 1% of Australia's geothermal energy was extracted, it would equate to 26,000 times the nation's total annual energy consumption, he said.

Geothermal energy producers pump water as deep as 5 kilometers into the earth where it is heated by hot rocks, circulated through a closed system and with the heat energy then used to generate electricity.

Prospective geothermal resources have been identified in every Australian state.

The drilling program will help get the industry over the short-term hurdle of high drilling costs and assist in developing the technologies and techniques needed to efficiently extract heat from deep below the earth's surface, he said.

Allocation of the funds will be competitive and merit-based, while the program's guidelines will encourage partnerships and accelerate the development of the industry, he said.

"We could now see Australia's first commercially viable geothermal power plants in place within four to five years.".

The government has a target for 20% of Australia's electricity generation to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Australia has a number of listed geothermal companies developing or exploring projects including Geodynamics Ltd., Torrens Energy Ltd., Petratherm Ltd., Hot Rock Ltd., Geothermal Resources Ltd. and Greenearth Energy Ltd.

-By Ray Brindal, Dow Jones Newswires; 612-6208-0902; [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2008 22:30 ET (02:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.