There has been much interest in producing power from the heat of subterranean rocks or "hot rocks." However, the practice suffered a major setback, with the breach of a four-kilometre-deep well on Friday in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.
Geodynamics, a Brisbane-based company that operates the South Australia well, is widely tipped as being closest to making the technology cost effective, which so far has proved costly. They hold the rights to a potential power supply of up to 10 gigawatts trapped in a 1000-square kilometre slab of hot granite deep under the town of Innamincka in South Australia.
They were in the final stages of commissioning a demonstration one-megawatt power plant for Innamincka when the rupture occurred, and steam started to escape from the well.
A team of specialists from the USA are on the way to figure out what caused the breach.
