Petratherm Ltd – an Adelaide (Australia) based leading explorer and developer of geothermal energy – has announced that it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Spanish authorities to develop a geothermal district heating system in the Madrid Geothermal License Area located 25 kms north of the City and covering over 300 square kms.
"This agreement reflects a strong desire by Spanish authorities to realise a working example of a geothermal district heating project in the Madrid region," said Terry Kallis, Petratherm’s Managing Director. The agreement will see a committee formed with members from both Spanish governments and Petratherm to work toward making the project viable.
The committee will now work on an agreement with customers for the supply of heat, and an assessment of potential subsidy and financing options available. It will help obtain environmental clearances for drilling and development; secure a competitively based engineering, procurement and construction contract; and establish a competitively based operations and maintenance contract. As part of the cooperative agreement, the Spanish government, through its Institute of Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), will also contribute a sum of €87,000 toward a feasibility study, which is planned for completion by the end of 2009.
As a result of this agreement, Petratherm is set to become the first company to formally develop geothermal energy projects in Spain. It is also undertaking projects in the key large electricity consuming market of Barcelona and has secured a geothermal exploration licence on Tenerife - the largest of the seven volcanic islands comprising the Canary Islands’ archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.
The 8 MW Geo-Madrid Project is the first of a number of other potential geothermal district heating projects in the pipeline for the Madrid region and will seek to provide a foundation to expand such applications across the north of the city. The project has been highlighted as one of six renewable energy projects of interest within the Madrid Regional government’s Renewable Energy Cluster Project, which is seeking to advance renewable energy projects in the Madrid region.
One may ask how an Australian company ended up in Spain, but with Australia perfectly situated to have one of the best geothermal energy sectors in the world, it is not hard to see why. It has significant geothermal resources only 3-5 km from the earth’s surface and it is estimated that 1% of Australia’s untapped geothermal potential could create enough energy for 26,000 years! Petratherm has arrived in Spain ready to develop a portfolio of quality geothermal energy projects using both conventional and engineered geothermal systems for power and heat, having already started the Paralana Geothermal Project in South Australia It has also been awarded a geothermal exploration permit in Victoria's East Gippsland Basin to develop a Hot Sedimentary Aquifer geothermal project, and has acquired two geothermal exploration licences South Australia's Riverland Region. Most recently, Petratherm also entered into a landmark, exclusive agreement with four key Chinese geological/geothermal institutions to undertake a co-operative assessment to identify prospective geothermal projects in China.
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