Australia:

Australian Geothermal Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place (RenewEconomy)

It’s been a tough week for the geothermal industry. In fact, it’s been a tough year: the two biggest utility supporters, Energy Australia and Origin Energy, have walked away from the sector, and the share price of nearly all the stocks remains in the doldrums. Dreams have either been shattered, or put on hold.

Last week, the federal government’s Energy White paper officially downgraded the geothermal sector from its status of Great Clean Energy Hope to just another option in the middle distance.

Where once geothermal was expected to compete with wind for financing for projects before 2020 in the Renewable Energy Target, and in late 2011 was still predicted by the draft energy white paper to provide 23 per cent of the country’s electricity needs by 2050, now it is expected to be barely visible before 2020, and may only provide 9 per cent of total electricity by 2050.

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