Innovative Process for Engaging Stakeholders in the Formation of Policy for Geothermal Developments

Abstract

The adaptation of drilling technologies and the discovery of significant Hot Rock (HR) and Hot Sedimentary Aquifer (HSA) geothermal resources in Australia has seen the establishment of a nascent Australian geothermal industry with some 33 companies holding 282 licences in total for exploration and/or heat extraction from these resources. It is estimated that there are sufficient resources to provide renewable, clean, base load power to meet Australia’s total electrical energy demand several times over. While some forms of geothermal energy development are mature and commercial, Australian resources, geology and characteristics are different from existing developments in other countries and therefore largely unproven. Hence, significant development in drilling and stimulation technologies, power plants, resource assessment and transmission interconnection are required to prove these resources to be commercially viable and practicable. Thus industry faces a number of challenges: technical, environmental, regulatory, financial (institutional capability approvals) and legislative. These include different treatment of permitting across the different states, different treatment of indigenous community rights, high cost of project finance capital (due to the ‘unproven’ nature of the technology as a whole), tightening labour markets and equipment shortages and remoteness. This paper explores the processes developed and undertaken to engage all potential stakeholders in this new industry such as: industry players; related industries (e.g. oil and gas); financial institutions; law firms; community groups; local and federal government and government officials, to identify, raise and discuss issues that might impede the rapid development of the industry, as well as identify solutions and expertise that already exists in other industries or other countries that could be adapted or adopted to avoid the Australian geothermal industry “re-inventing the wheel”. The result being a series of key and fully auditable recommendations that will aid informed, co-ordinated policy making within government across the areas of: • Technology; • Research, training and skills development • Legislative and regulatory framework; • Private and public financing structures; • Community concerns. As well as outlining the processes developed, we report on the success of the methodology in gaining input from all relevant sources, in the ‘knowledge base’ amongst stakeholders and in identifying key recommendations to support the development of a sustainable and sizeable geothermal industry in Australia. Finally, we outline possible improvements to the methodology and discuss other potential areas for its application in overcoming barriers to implementation of sustainable energy technologies.