Power Sales

New World Energy has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to negotiate a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Synergy, Western Australia’s Government-owned electricity retailer.

Under the MoU New World Energy will supply electricity from its Perth Basin projects to Synergy, with Synergy paying a fixed price for the electricity supplied and all environmental rights (eg Renewable Energy Certificates). This gives New World Energy a potential customer ahead of production and the opportunity to sell its electricity into the SWIS.

Power Station Options

Geothermal electricity production is dependent on the properties of the geothermal reservoir, including factors such as: brine temperature, flow rate and pressure, air temperature, and steam content. The ability to generate electricity economically in the Perth Basin will rely on having the right power station for the prevailing conditions.

New World Energy commissioned Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), a globally significant engineering firm with considerable geothermal experience, to undertake a scoping study to determine the optimal geothermal power plant for conditions in the Perth Basin. The results from the ‘WA Geothermal Development Study’ have provided New World with an indication of the optimal power plants for deployment in the Perth Basin, with details of their associated environmental footprint, construction and production costs, and lead times for plant manufacture.

PB identified two geothermal power plant technologies as having the potential to meet New World Energy’s strategy of co-developing Hot Aquifer and Hot Rock resources; the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and the Kalina Cycle. Of these PB recommended the ORC as it is a proven technology in use around the world while the Kalina Cycle remains in development and is yet to be tested on a commercial scale. PB also confirmed that implementation of the ORC is realistic within New World Energy’s target production timeframe of four to five years.

Development Schedule

As part of PB’s scoping study into generation costs for geothermal power development in the Perth Basin, they also outlined a potential development schedule assuming that exploration successfully defines viable geothermal resources.

The study assumed the initial development of a 5MW pilot plant ahead of ramping up to 30MW commercial production. The study confirmed that initial electricity production from the pilot plant could be achieved within five years and that commercial production could ramp up quickly afterwards.