The Government of Western Australia released a “request for tender” on Wednesday 12th for 25 MW of electricity to power WA’s billion dollar desalination plant under development.

In what’s believed to be an Australian first, 5 MW of supply is set aside for “commercially unproven” technologies such as wave power and hot rock geothermal. The plant is due for commission in 2011, which provides a powerful incentive to develop geothermal in that state…although we are still waiting on legislation to allow exploration.