Sydney-based Greenvale Energy announced today that it had been exploring geothermal prospects at its tenements around Longreach.

The company said its study’s outcomes were encouraging, revealing the capacity of the technology to provide requisite heat for a 4.95 megawatt plant in Longreach, but exploration below a depth of 3km was unlikely to be economic at small scale.

Instead, it will move to its project in the Millungera Basin, an area east of Mount Isa which previous studies found potential for 611,000 petajoules of inferred geothermal energy. One petajoule was equivalent to 278 gigawatt hours, Greenvale said.

The region is already a hotspot for vanadium exploration, an element used in the development of grid-scale batteries. It also will be the middle of the route of the CopperString transmission project between Townsville and Mt Isa.

Greenvale said the Millungera Basin had target depths of 2.5 km to 3 km and also had large-scale regional power requirements.

“With the positives coming out of the Longreach geothermal feasibility study, the company’s focus now shifts to the Millungera Basin where there is already significant commitment and investment, not only in transmission infrastructure but also in mining and industrial development,” the company said.

“Greenvale’s geothermal team remains confident in the geothermal potential of the Millungerra area where it anticipates the discovery of requisite heat sources at shallower depths, with fewer sub-surface uncertainties.”

Chief executive Mark Turner said that the economics of the Longreach project did not add up.

“Being one of the first movers for geothermal in Australia was always going to present challenges. However, we now have confidence in the CeraPhiWell technology, confidence that we can take to the Mulligerra Basin as well look to unlock the area’s immense geothermal potential,” he said.