Australia:

Perth Basin Geothermal Energy Project Abandoned (Esperance Express)

In a blow to Western Australia's renewable energy generation prospects, Greenpower Energy Limited has announced that its will not pursue its geothermal energy exploration project at its Mount Ridley site near Esperance.

Last year Greenpower secured a state government co-funded drilling grant of $120,000 for the Mount Ridley project through the Royalties for Regions' Exploration Incentive Scheme.

Drilling at the site commenced earlier this year, with testing for radiogenic granite for hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy generation potential. Dry steam geothermal energy can be produced by steam from reservoirs of hot water several kilometres below the earth's surface.

However, in its quarterly activities report (PDF) released late last month, Greenpower said it had advised the Western Australian Department of Minerals and Petroleum that it had relinquished its Mount Ridley geothermal exploration permits.

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