The Market

"The current economic climate is one in which environmentally friendly energy sources like geothermal energy can only continue to flourish."

Changing World circumstances continue to build a groundswell of support for new sources of energy that will provide a long-term, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional fossil fuels.

Both the political and economic environment for the evaluation and development of renewable energy, geothermal energy in particular, has advanced substantially over recent years. This has been driven by a combination of increasing energy prices and the need to mitigate climate change.

The international market for clean, green, renewable energy is growing.

The market for renewable energy in Australia

Australia will soon have a highly decentralised and competitive electricity market, with customers in all states able to choose their electricity supplier.

The requirement for clean, renewable sources of energy that deliver power on a continuous basis to the major population centres in Australia is expected to increase through population growth, demand for additional power, economic development, growing pressures for green house gas abatement and governmental initiatives to promote the development of renewable energy.

Australia has committed to meeting its Kyoto Protocol target, and has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% on 2000 levels by 2050.

The Australian Government is expanding the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target to ensure that 20% of Australia's electricity supply comes from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Geothermal Drilling Program (GDP)

The Federal Government's $50 million Geothermal Drilling Program (GDP) provides assistance to companies seeking to develop geothermal energy with the cost of proof-of-concept projects including drilling geothermal wells. The GDP is a competitive merit-based grants program provided as a dollar for dollar matched funding and is capped at $7 million per proof-of-concept project.

Renewable Energy Fund (REF)

The Australian Federal Government introduced the $500 million Renewable Energy Fund (REF) to support the adoption of renewable energy technologies in Australia, providing funding for a series of competitive grant programs that aim to demonstrate the viability of renewable energy technologies.