Reinvigorating prospectivity for geothermal power generation in the Northern Territory

A newly released study on the prospectivity for geothermal power generation in the Northern Territory represents the 2024 update to the “Geothermal energy potential of the Northern Territory” documented in NTGS Record 2007-004.

This new NTGS Report and its accompanying GIS data compilation constitute a high-level assessment of the geological prospectivity for generating electrical power from geothermal energy sources across the Northern Territory. In this Report, prospectivity is defined as the likelihood that geological factors at a given location and depth may support geothermal power generation.

Furthermore, this study also provides an overview of the three predominant strategies for geothermal power generation, namely Hot Sedimentary Aquifers (HSA), Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) and Advanced Geothermal Systems (AGS), complete with discussion of current and emerging technologies and relevant case studies appropriate to each.

This study adopts a novel methodology to synthesise and incorporate relevant geological data and associated calculations into a series of regional prospectivity maps, which identify areas across the Northern Territory which are potentially geologically prospective for the generation of electrical power from geothermal energy using each of the three strategies outlined above.

Download the NTGS Report 23 through GEMIS.