Hot rock power set to take off in SA

Petratherm Ltd and Beach Petroleum Ltd have set the wheels in motion at their Paralana Project in South Australia, hoping to see the country's first commercial supplies of hot rock power from the end of 2009.
The pair's Paralana Energy Joint Venture has appointed Californian-based Global Power Solutions to advise on the flagship project, as well as other projects in Australia and Spain.
The joint venture has also approved the start of deep well design and the rig selection process.
"Based on our assessment of current specialist rig availability and project lead times, Paralana remains on track for Australia's first commercial geothermal electricity production - an initial electricity output of 7.5 megawatts - to the Beverley uranium mine," Petratherm managing director Terry Kallis said.
Hot rocks energy is a renewable energy source that extracts heat from subterranean granite by circulating water through them and flowing it into a geothermal power station.
Under a farm-in deal, Beach will earn an interest of 21 per cent of the joint venture via expenditure of $10 million, with an option to earn an additional 15 per cent through the expenditure of a further $20 million.
Global Power Solutions is a geothermal energy consultancy, which had a hand in more than half of the world's installed geothermal plants, representing over 5000 megawatts, of which the majority are in the US.
It will give technical oversight to the Paralana well design and drilling process, plus planning and engineering design work for the requisite power generation plant and the integration of the above and below ground works.
Petratherm's shares ended 7.5 cents, or almost 10 per cent, higher at 85 cents each, while Beach's shares climbed 2.5 cents to $1.435.
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