The Wire

Enough green energy to supply the whole of Australia – and without a wind turbine or solar cell in sight. That’s the buzz following a hot rock breakthrough in the Cooper Basin. The plan is to pump water kilometres down in to the earth, where it will be super-heated by hot rocks. It then comes back to the surface as highly pressurised steam and drives turbines, creating energy. The company who have made the breakthrough is Geodynamics, and their Chief Executive Bertus DeGraf says the geology of the Cooper Basin make it the perfect site. But Dennis Matthews from the SA Greens is sceptical about claims the process emits no greenhouse gases.