Geothermal power 'faces many challenges', says minister
Posted 1 hour 44 minutes ago

This rig will drill several kilometres into the ground in the hope of tapping geothermal energy for electricity production in outback South Australia. (ABC News: Nick Harmsen)
Map: Adelaide 5000
The Federal Government says the geothermal industry still needs to prove that it can generate electricity from hot, underground rocks.
Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane has told a conference in Adelaide that, if generating geothermal energy were easy, it would have been done long ago.
He says that, while he supports the industry, it faces many challenges.
"We do actually need to have a working example of geothermal energy from hot rocks," he said.
Barry Goldstein from South Australia's Resources Department says that proof will not be too far away.
"It is our forecast, the sector is basically forecasting at least 10 companies will be in a position to demonstrate by 2010," he said.
One hot rocks company, Geodynamics, is about to start drilling at Innamincka in outback SA within a week.
It says it should be able to prove within a year that its system works.
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