Earths Energy completes capital raise to support geothermal in Australia

Investor presentation of Earths Energy (source: Earths Energy via LinkedIn)

Carlo Cariaga 8 Feb 2024

Earths Energy has commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after a successful $6 million capital raise to advance the development of geothermal projects in South Australia and Queensland.

Formerly known as Cradle Resources, Earths Energy has recently acquired majority stake in Australian geothermal firms Volt Geothermal Pty Ltd (Volt) and Within Energy Pty Ltd (Within).

Earths Energy is an early mover in the Australian geothermal sector, aiming to establish a reliable, continuous renewable energy solution to contribute to Australia’s clean energy targets.

The company will use the funds from the capital raising to focus on systematically exploring early-stage geothermal targets and developing geothermal resources. This will involve a fit-for-purpose exploration program analyzing subsurface geology to identify thermal resource potential at different well depths, undertaking preliminary survey and resource assessments based on offset well data, exploration location definition and exploration drilling. The results from these initial investigations and assessments will determine priority targets for further exploration drilling for geothermal resources.

Geothermal assets in South Australia and Queensland

Earths Energy holds substantial exploration blocks spanning 12,035 sq. km. in prime locations in South Australia, situated along major transmission lines and adjacent to large-scale mining operations such as Olympic Dam and Carrapateena and Four Mile/Beverly, all major consumers of energy.

In Queensland, Earths Energy has one granted geothermal exploration permit located near Brisbane and substations and regional power networks. Additionally, the company has three blocks under application that are located near the Gold Coast and major industrial activity in the Bowen and Surat Basin mining and coal seam gas areas.

Closed-loop geothermal holds the potential to unlock geothermal in Australia

Legacy geothermal projects in Australia targeted rocks at depth of >4500 meters and temperatures of >270 °C.  Since then, closed loop demonstration projects such as the Coso Project in California have demonstrated the ability to generate power from source temperatures closer to 200 °C.

Closed loop geothermal also overcomes any permeability issues by circulating a working fluid that absorbs and transports heat through a sealed wellbore, without extracting fluids. Therefore, closed loop geothermal expands the potential production and delivery of geothermal energy in fundamental ways:

• Closed loop systems can operate in a much broader range of temperatures and source conditions than conventional hydrothermal projects, ranging from relatively low temperature sedimentary reservoirs to hot, dry rock formations.
• The baseload and flexible power generation capabilities of closed loop geothermal can help stabilize the grid with reliable, continuous, sustainable energy at high capacity, and also provide ancillary services.
• Closed loop geothermal systems can enhance industrial applications including high-value lithium extraction and hydrogen production, while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Earths Energy