Australia has the hottest known near-surface rocks outside of volcanic areas anywhere in the world. According to an estimate by Hot Dry Rocks, its technical geothermal potential is estimated at 2.9 million megawatts – almost 72 times greater than the power currently generated from coal and gas. To illustrate the power generating potential on this continent, HDR has produced an official estimate of the EGS potential of Australia, with a set of associated maps.

Follow this link to open the heat flow 

Supported by Google.orgs’s ‘Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal’ initiative (RE>C)

Estimates of potential power generation are based on assumed extraction of thermal energy over 30 years. These power estimates do not constitute a ‘Resource’ as defined by the Australian Code for Reporting Geothermal Reserves and Resources, and should not be described as a ‘Resource’.

If just 2% of the estimated thermal energy between three and five kilometres beneath Australia is recovered, there is generation potential of 417,000 megawatts (MW) – more than 10 times the power currently generated from coal or gas (40,647 MW current installed generation capacity in Australia*).

If 20 % of the thermal energy between three and five kilometres beneath Australia is extracted over 30 years, there is generation potential of 4,170,000 megawatts (MW) – more than 100 times that currently generated from coal or gas.

The EGS potential is distributed over all states and territories.

The Protocol establishes the development of EGS maps and estimates for each country on Earth. The source data will be publicly available, and compatible with the highest standards of international data sharing, consistent with Google’s vision of free public information. Maps will be compatible with the Google Earth platform.