Hydrothermal energy is baseload, carbon-free, renewable, scalable non-weather dependent, lower cost, low risk, and safe.
01
Australia is facing an energy crisis.
Falling and failing fossil fuel generation is leading to higher power prices and supply shortages.
- Coal-fired generators account for half of Australia’s energy but are old, unreliable and being retired. More breakdowns cause more price spikes.
- Gas is also a carbon intensive fuel and expensive in Australia for power generation as 80% of supply is exported. Depleting domestic reserves and moratoriums compound the issue.
- The entry of cleaner renewables is slower than the exit of fossil-fuel capacity.
- Most forecasts predict a doubling of electricity consumption in Australia by 2050.
02
Wind and solar are not a viable baseload energy solution.
There is too much of it when we don't need it, and not enough when we do.
- Wind farms and solar stations are visually polluting and demand considerable land mass and natural resources.
- Fluctuating wind and solar power is not baseload. It’s dependent on the weather.
- While battery technology is improving, storing large amounts of wind and solar energy at an affordable cost remains a major challenge.
- In addition, these batteries use critical minerals whose reliable extraction is increasingly costly and difficult.
03
Other carbon-free options are not issue-free.
- Nuclear energy is forecast to take at least 15 years and represent the most expensive solution. It also produces radioactive waste.
- White or natural hydrogen manufactured by the earth has potential but its currently unproven.
- Grey hydrogen produced from reforming gas releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
- Green hydrogen produced from electrolysing water requires a large amount of energy, which takes time to scale up.
- Pumped Hydro is not a viable option for many locations and comes with major cost and environmental risks and impediments.
04
Hydrothermal energy has the lowest production cost.
05
Data centres represent the greatest market opportunity.
The explosion of AI requires a phenomenal amount of power and tech giants want it to be carbon-free and continuous.
- As the AI evolution unfolds, demand for data centres is expected to increase dramatically.
- The IEA says a typical AI data center can use as much electricity as 100,000 homes.
- Amazon is investing $20 billion into Australia over next five years to expand its data centre network, cloud infrastructure and energy generation.
- Baseload, carbon-free, scalable and safe hydrothermal energy is the perfect solution to meet the accelerating needs of tech giants.White or natural hydrogen manufactured by the earth has potential but its currently unproven.
- Grey hydrogen produced from reforming gas releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
- Green hydrogen produced from electrolysing water requires a large amount of energy, which takes time to scale up.
