Business Scoop
Summary
Ara Ake, New Zealand’s energy innovation centre, is leading and funding a project exploring whether hundreds of suspended and shut-in petroleum wells in the Taranaki region could be repurposed as practical, cost-effective and low-emission heat sources for industry, buildings and communities, before they are permanently abandoned.
“Industrial heat users need reliable, affordable alternatives to oil, gas and coal, and geoheat is uniquely placed to help deliver that. We don’t yet know if developing geoheat using Taranaki’s petroleum wells, rather than drilling new ones is commercially viable, but finding that out is exactly what Ara Ake exists to do, for Taranaki and for New Zealand,” says Sophie Braggins, Ara Ake Chief Executive.
The geothermal resource being explored is called geoheat, and is less than 120°C. This type of heat is best suited for direct heating (or less commonly, cooling) uses such as industrial process heat, space heating for factories and buildings, district heating schemes, horticulture and swimming pools.
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#News#GeothermalandGeo-Exchange#DistrictHeating