Australian Hot Rocks Are Shallow and Hot
Australia has a very real advantage over most countries due to our almost unique geology.
The shallower the Hot Rocks the cheaper the development costs as it gets several times more expensive to drill below the 5Km mark.
The image shows USA Hot Rocks at 6.5km
The image below shows Australian Hot Rocks above 5km
Some sites in South Australia have shown similar temperatures at 4 kms
The image below shows Australian Hot Rocks at 5km
In addition Australia's very hot, shallow, Hot Rock lenses are, unlike those overseas, horizontally layered and fractured, due to the tectonic shift of Australia into Asia. This horizontal layering and fracturing allows for the establishment of up to 4 times larger engineered heat exchangers than areas with vertical fractures. According to recent article in The Australian the director of the Petroleum & Geothermal Primary Industires & Resources SA Mr Barry Goldstein: "So these heat exchangers are nearly horizontal and that is due to the compressive stress on the rock from Australia bumping into Asia. The high temperatures, the high stress and the direction of the stress is almost unique in the world." (Australia the lucky energy country)