Geothermal aspirant Petratherm is finally getting around to conducting its critical fracture stimulation of its Paralana 2 well, after several months of delays caused by unusually wet weather. The testing will give a crucial insight into the ability of Petratherm and its joint venture partners, Beach Energy and TRUenergy, of extracting energy from superheated rocks some 4km underground. Following the disappointing results from the Geodynamic wells in the Cooper Basin, this will be seen as a critical test for the technology.

Some 10 days of testing will be undertaken by US group Halliburton and managed by Beach. Petratherm says the stimulation process involves the injection of water into the geothermal reservoir in the subsurface. The aim is to create a fracture network and to connect to and enhance the existing natural fracture network that contains over-pressured brines.

If the tests go as hoped, it will likely help decide the location of the Paralana 3 deep production well, with circulation tests to occur next year, and the planned commissioning of a 3.75MW pilot plant in 2012. Petratherm recently said it could deliver baseload geothermal energy to the nearby Olympic Dam project at less than $100/MWh – considerably cheaper than wind, and well below diesel costs.

Grid gains

Australia’s first community-owned wind farm, the two-turbine Hepburn Wind, began exporting energy to the electricity grid for the first time on Wednesday. The 4MW wind fram, located near the town of Daylesford, was initiated and funded mostly by 1700 members of the local community, and will provide more than local needs. “This is a great achievement for the Hepburn Shire and community. Six years ago, our community chose to be a beneficiary of the move to clean energy," Hepburn Wind chairman, Simon Holmes à Court said.

“While the political debates about carbon pricing have bogged down, the Hepburn community has built its own wind-farm, which will generate enough electricity to offset most of the town.” Holmes a Court said more than 45 communities have contacted Hepburn Wind’s sister organisation, Embark, about adapting the Hepburn model to create similar community projects, be it in wind, solar or bio-energy. The Hepburn wind farm last week won the Victorian Premier’s sustainability award.

Solar rethink

The Australian Greens and key independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have supported a push to have a national approach for the solar industry, rather than piecemeal policies from the states. The Greens and the solar industry have been pushing for a 1:1 net tariff for rooftop solar, and also measures that will encourage development of commercial and large scale installations. They’d probably like to use the policies of the ACT as a template. “What we now need is ... a one-for-one, so for every kilowatt hour that you generate from your renewables you should get the same price as you pay for a kilowatt hour you take from the system," Senator Christine Milne said. “That way we would get the industry on a long-term sustainable basis."

The politicians have also questioned the Productivity Commission assessment of solar tariffs, suggesting that – like the NSW government assessment of the costs of the solar bonus scheme – they have have got their figures wrong by underestimating the size of the average solar system, and over-estimating the ratio of power going back into the grid. Meanwhile, the two major solar peak bodies, the Australian Solar Energy Society and the Solar Energy Industries Association, are holding a “national solar summit” at NSW Parliament House on Thursday to devise a national strategy for solar policy and push their case for a 1:1 net tariff.

Monckton’s new lows

Lord Monckton, the cartoon climate critic, appears determined to take the climate change debate to new lows, accusing scientists who accept anthropogenic global warming of being “communists” and labelling the climate change advisor Ross Garnaut as a “fascist”; even going to far as decorating a presentation on the “science” with swastikas. Need we say more? Perhaps we’ll just leave it to the chief scientist, Ian Chubb, who said last night he was appalled by the comments. "I think that if he just runs around insulting people and calling them names because he can't get to the substance of their argument then that should be pointed out ... by serious people,” he told ABC’s Lateline program. And it has.