logo-loader

Earth Heat Resources applauds Australian Government carbon tax and trading system

Published: 15:34 11 Jul 2011 AEST

no_picture_pai

New energy company Earth Heat Resources (ASX: EHR) has welcomed the introduction of the Federal Government’s carbon tax and trading system announced yesterday, calling it a "huge boost to the industry."

The company believes the clean energy sector is well positioned to benefit most from this new policy as it creates more investment certainty in the renewables sector. 

Clean energy firms are set to gain from the creation of a A$10 billion clean-energy fund to finance clean-energy projects or technologies in what is the largest emissions scheme outside Europe and Australia's most sweeping economic reform in decades.

On July 7 Earth Heat joined a select group of developers worldwide, by completing an Environmental Impact Assessment on its Copahue geothermal project in Argentina.

Further news is expected within two to three weeks with the Concept Study stage 1 report to develop a 15 MW power plant.

Torey Marshall, Earth Heat managing director, said “the company has weathered the uncertainty of our sector, notably in the last 12 months, yet still being able to add significant value to our portfolio, in particular the Copahue Project in Argentina.

"Our position amongst our Australian listed peers is very strong, with our development cycle comparing largely with pure exploration plays."

Marshall told Proactive Investors today, "Geothermal Energy is one of the lowest levelised cost electricity sources globally, and it is the only viable alternative to those energy users that need to have baseload power, 24/7.

"For a long time the costs of electricity in Australia have been under-presented against the real costs of renewable projects. My belief is that the funds established by the Government will really address this presentation imbalance, helping consumers, investors and the community as a whole understand how much better Australia can be if its powered by Green."

The geothermal resource at Copahue provides significant scope for development at the project, with the potential energy generated for consumers in the Neuquen Province of Argentina.

The Copahue project is located 55 kilometres to the national electricity market interconnector, with a sealed bitumen road to the site from Neuquen City.

Other infrastructure includes power lines connected from the site to the nearby town of Caviahue, a plentiful water supply with oil field services and equipment in the Province.

Earth Heat intends to use the Feasibility Study to secure financing needed to accelerate the plant to reach production and ultimately generate cash flow.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

12 hours, 20 minutes ago