<div>Australia has ambitions to become a major global hydrogen producer by 2030. The establishment of Australia’s and the world’s hydrogen economy, however, will depend upon the availability of affordable and reliable hydrogen storage. Geological hydrogen storage is a practical solution for large scale storage requirements ensuring hydrogen supply can always meet demand, and excess renewable electricity can be stored for later use, improving electricity network reliability. Hosting thick, underground halite (salt) deposits and an abundance of onshore depleted gas fields, Australia is well placed to take advantage of geological hydrogen storage options to support its ambition of hosting a global hydrogen hub export industry. Using the Bluecap modelling software, we identify regions in Australia that are potentially profitable for large scale hydrogen production and storage. We use the results of this work to suggest high-priority regions for hydrogen development, supporting policy maker and investor decisions on the locations of new infrastructure and hydrogen projects in Australia. <b>Citation:</b> Walsh SDC, Easton L, Wang C and Feitz AJ (2023) Evaluating the Economic Potential for Geological Hydrogen Storage in Australia. <o>Earth Sci. Syst. Soc. </i>3:10074. doi: 10.3389/esss.2023.10074

The Officer-Musgrave project investigates the groundwater and energy resource potential of the Officer Basin and neighbouring Musgrave Province near the junction of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory (Figure 1). Groundwater investigations focus on the Musgrave Province and overlying Officer Basin to identify potential palaeovalley groundwater resources, to support geological framework data acquisition and geochemistry. Groundwater systems in remote regions, such as the Officer-Musgrave region, are poorly understood due to sparse geoscientific data and few detailed scientific inestigations having been undertaken. Characterising the distribution and quality of groundwater resources, will lead to a better understanding of the groundwater resources for community supply and economic development opportunities. The energy resource component of the project focuses on the analysis of existing legacy datasets, including seismic and well data, in the Officer Basin and acquisition of key new precompetitive data. These activities will improve understanding of regional resource potential, with the aim of stimulating industry exploration investment in the medium-term, ultimately leading to new discoveries and wealth creation. This work builds directly on work completed in the first phase of the Exploring for the Future program, which enhanced our understanding of Centralian Superbasin stratigraphy (Khider et al., 2021; Bradshaw et al., 2021). Presented to the 2022 Central Australian Basins Symposium IV (CABS) 29-30 August (https://agentur.eventsair.com/cabsiv/)

Poster describing synthetic thermal modelling and its application to geothermal exploration in Australia

Precompetitive AEM data and associated scientific analysis assists exploration under cover by reducing risk, stimulating investment and promoting exploration for commodities. In recent years, Geoscience Australia has flown three regional Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) surveys covering three percent of Australia. Data and associated interpretations from regional surveys in the Paterson, Pine Creek and Lake Frome regions have led to tenement take up, stimulated exploration for a number of commodities and have given rise to many Eureka moments. This presentation will outline significant results from the use of Geoscience Australia AEM data and interpretations, results that have been announced by industry via the Australian Stock Exchange and other publications.

<p>In the South Nicholson region of Queensland and the Northern Territory, the Paleoproterozoic Isa Superbasin and the Mesoproterozoic South Nicholson Basin have the potential to host both conventional and unconventional petroleum systems (Gorton & Troup, 2018). The region remains poorly explored however with only 19 petroleum wells drilled in total (Carr et al., 2016). Although nine stratigraphic intervals are described as potential source rocks, data coverage is extremely limited and a large proportion of the available data is old and of poor quality. To more comprehensively characterise these organic rich source rocks, higher resolution coverages of pre-competitive geochemical data is required (Jarrett et al. 2018). <p>This report contains the total organic carbon (TOC) content and Rock-Eval pyrolysis data of 674 samples selected from twelve drill cores housed in the Geological Survey of Queensland’s Brisbane core repository including Amoco DDH 83-1, Amoco DDH 83-2, Amoco DDH 83-3, Amoco DDH 83-4, Argyle Creek 1, Armraynald 1, Burketown 1, Desert Creek 1, Egilabria 1, Egilabria 2 DW1, Egilabria 4, Morstone 1, MORSTONE DDH1. This data was generated at the Isotope and Organic Geochemistry Laboratory at Geoscience Australia as part of the Exploring for the Future program.

Like many of the basins along Australia's eastern seaboard, there is currently only a limited understanding of the geothermal energy potential of the New South Wales extent of the Clarence-Moreton Basin. To date, no study has examined the existing geological information available to produce an estimate of subsurface temperatures throughout the region. Forward modelling of basin structure using its expected thermal properties is the process generally used in geothermal studies to estimate temperatures at depth in the Earth's crust. The process has seen increasing use in complex three-dimensional (3D) models, including in areas of sparse data. The overall uncertainties of 3D models, including the influence of the broad assumptions required to undertake them, are generally only poorly examined by their authors and sometimes completely ignored. New methods are presented in this study which will allow estimates and uncertainties to be addressed in a quantitative and justifiable way. Specifically, this study applies Monte Carlo Analysis to constrain uncertainties through random sampling of statistically congruent populations. Particular focus has been placed on the uncertainty in assigning thermal conductivity values to complex and spatially extensive geological formations using only limited data. As a case study these new methods are then applied to the New South Wales extent of the Clarence-Moreton Basin. The geological structure of the basin has been modelled using data from existing petroleum drill holes, surface mapping and information derived from previous studies. A range of possible lithological compositions was determined for each of the major geological layers through application of compositional data analysis. In turn, a range of possible thermal conductivity values was determined for the major lithology groups using rock samples held by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). These two populations of values were then randomly sampled to establish 120 different forward models, the results of which have been interpreted to present the best estimate of expected subsurface temperatures, and their uncertainties. These results suggest that the Clarence-Moreton Basin has a moderate geothermal energy potential within an economic drilling depth. This potential however, displays significant variability between different modelling runs, which is likely due to the limited data available for the region. While further work could improve these methods, it can be seen from this study that uncertainties can provide a means by which to add confidence to results, rather than undermine it.

Hydrogeological assessment of the Maryborough Basin, submitted as an abstract for the 2013 IAH Congress.

The possibility of diverting the Upper Snowy River to provide water for irrigation has been a subject of discussion since 1884. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority was constituted in 1949. As the body responsible for the detailed investigation of the geology of the area it was thought desirable to publish the geological work which has been done in the Snowy Mountains region. With the authority of the Under-Secretary of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, the reports by members of the Geological Survey of New South Wales are included together with reports by geologists of the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics. Reports included in this publications are: "Geology - Jindabyne to Murrumbidgee River", "Reconnaissance Survey of Dam Site at Geehi, Swampy Plain River, N.S.W", "Geological Reconnaissance of the Proposed Hydro-Electric Works in the Kosciusko Area", "Geological Reconnaissance - Eucumbene River to Tumut River", and "Geological Reconnaissance - Murrumbidgee - Tumut Area".

This animation illustrates the various stages of development of Hot Rock geothermal resources for electricity generation. The animations were produced in GAV by the 3D animator, using 3D Studio Max software. Professional voice-over has been added, as well as sound effects. This version is based on the original version - 08-3385, geocat no.68461.

To provide the solar power industry with a data resource to allow them to assess the economic potential of a site for a solar power plant. Specifically under the Solar Flagship program.