Issue 1 | March 2012

Power from hot water: Perth’s future vision

Geothermal energy will power the cooling system of the new Pawsey Supercomputer Centre in Perth, Western Australia.

The Western Australian capital Perth is shaping itself to be one of the leading geothermal cities of the future.

There is a convergence of investment in science and infrastructure in the city, with the long-term aim of harnessing sustainable energy from the deep, heated Perth Basin aquifer that runs beneath the city.

CSIRO is leading development efforts with plans for Australia's largest direct-heat geothermal demonstration site. It will provide sustainable heating and cooling for the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) in the Perth suburb of Kensington.

The project will also contribute to the substantial cooling requirements of the new Pawsey Supercomputer Centre being built next door to ARRC to cater for high-end computationally-intensive research, including the Australian Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Pathfinder telescope.
The project officer for the geothermal project – known as Sustainable Energy for SKA, or SESKA – is Jacqui Cook, who says the main aim is to demonstrate the use of geothermal energy to heat and cool.

"A hydrothermal system will use hot water pumped from underground aquifers for heating and (with the aid of sorption chillers) for cooling without the need for electrical energy. Water will then be recycled back into the aquifer," she says.
"The first step is to drill an exploration well to assess whether the aquifer at the site has the necessary permeability and water temperature at depth to sustain a geothermal production system." Drilling is expected to commence this year.

The SESKA project is an initiative of the Australian Government, as part of the Education Investment Fund, which has provided $19.8 million. Energy company GT Power is collaborating with CSIRO on the project.

Ms Cook says assessing the aquifer is an essential starting point, but whatever the energy outcome, one of the wells established will be fitted with web-accessible monitoring infrastructure, allowing for ongoing research by Australia's geoscience community.

Geothermal technologies are one of a suite of renewable energy solutions CSIRO is undertaking as part of national and global efforts to increase sustainable energy production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.