This is a Report produced after a small Workshop organised by the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence in Brisbane on 25-26 August 2008. The first day of the Workshop concentrated on the feasibility of supercritical CO2 geothermal siphon as a new way of exploiting hot rock geothermal resources to generate electricity. The second day of the Workshop discussed the future research strategies for the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre and other national and overseas research groups in the broader geothermal energy context – the main research thrust in the near future for the Centre as well as the others who participated in the Workshop.
This document offers a summary of the discussions during the first day. It is organised in six Sections, corresponding to the six Focus groups in the Workshop.

This document offers a summary of the discussions during the first day. It is organised in six Sections, corresponding to the six Focus groups in the Workshop.

As a background to the following sections, it should be noted that a supercritical CO2 siphon (Brown, 2000; Pruess, 2006; Gurgenci et al, 2008) offers a series of potential advantages that may expedite commercial exploitation of some geothermal resources. There are however significant issues that need to be resolved. A list of such issues would include but not be limited to the geochemistry of supercritical CO2; dealing with reservoir water; long-term effects in terms of reservoir connectivity; the source for CO2 to activate the reservoir and long-term retention of CO2; and design and optimization of turbines and air-cooled heat exchanger systems to work with the supercritical CO2.

This document is a summary of the discussions as captured by the Workshop organisers during the Workshop and listed under six Focus Group headings. Although all care has been taken to ensure
accuracy and adequacy, the following does not necessarily constitute a true representation of the views of the Workshop participants.

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