Green Rock Energy and New World Energy have signed a binding agreement to jointly develop both companies’ geothermal exploration permits (GEPs) in the North Perth Basin in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
The joint venture agreement will give the partners adominant position for geothermal power development in the Mid West, the State’s fastest growing electricity market.
The joint venture will focus on identifying the most prospective drilling target for drilling two wells with the objective of an initial ~5MW of power generation capacity connected to existing power infrastructure.
‘Green Rock considers the Mid West Geothermal Power Project a strong contender for State and Commonwealth funding towards drilling the first two well. Working jointly with New World Energy further strengthens our prospects and we look forward to further progress on funding over the next few months,’ said Green Rock’s Managing Director, Richard Beresford.
‘The mutually beneficial joint venture will create a single entity with access to the best geothermal areas in WA that are adjacent to transmission infrastructure and major baseload energy markets. This collaboration will allow both companies to pool their technical and financial resources to ensure the most timely and cost effective geothermal development,’ added New World Energy’s Managing Director, John Libby.
‘Our sustainable energy future will rely on enterprises working together to reduce costs and bring commercially competitive generation of renewable energy,’ says Professor Ray Wills, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA).
‘Geothermal projects will diversify and grow Australia’s sources of energy, and be part of a renewable energy mix. This joint venture is focussing on an area that be a major growth area for new resource projects – projects that will be exposed to the growing carbon constraints of global markets, and that will have to consider how they minimise or eliminate their associated greenhouse gas emissions, and geothermal energy could prove to be a key to that need,’ says Prof Wills.
Both Green Rock Energy Limited and New World Energy Limited are active members of the SEA.
Further detail of the ASX announcement by Green Rock is available here: http://www.greenrock.com.au/media/2011_10_31__ASX____JV_with_NWE_31_October_2011.pdf
Geothermal collaboration brings a New World to Green Rock.