The Brisbane company said the construction of the pilot plant in the Cooper Basin near Innamincka was complete, apart from the installation of the last two high pressure heat exchangers, which arrived on site.

“Work on the overhead power line between the 1MW pilot plant and the township of Innamincka has been completed, with final connection planned to coincide with the commissioning of the plant,” the company said.

Geodynamics is planning to start supplying Innamincka with free renewable energy by the middle of the year.Geodynamics also said it had submitted an application for $90 million of funding under the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Demonstration Program (REDP).

“Following the announcement on 30 March 2008 that proof of concept has been achieved in its Cooper Basin project, the company believes it has satisfied all of the eligibility criteria and merit criteria of the program in relation to the development of a commercial demonstration plant,” it said.  Last week Geodynamics received a $560,000 grant from the South Australian Government to pay for half the cost of connecting the pilot plant to Innamincka.

Hot rock geothermal energy production involves drilling wells 5km into the earth’s core, circulating water through them and harnessing the heat energy when it returns to the surface.