Jan 30 2010
Panax Geothermal specializes in harnessing geothermal energy through projects and power plants. The major projects completed by the company include the Limestone Coast project in South Australia, Puga project and Krishna-Godavari project in India.
The Limestone Coast project was initially developed by Scopenergy, a company later taken over by Panax Geothermal. This project was based on an innovative idea by concentrating on ‘blind’ geothermal resources found in sandstone. The region of the Otway Basin, known for its high heat flows, was the perfect location for this kind of sandstone. It took Scopenergy over three years to carry out research on the geological factors, heat flows and reservoir engineering in order to get a complete estimate on the potential of the project.
The Limestone Coast project, developed at present by Panax Geothermal, consists of 19 petroleum wells and 26 water wells, where temperature measurements were carried out in order to confirm high heat flows. The major reasons for the high heat flows in the Limestone Coast project are anomalous basement heat generation, volcanic activity and thinning of the crust during the development of the Otway Basin.