Origin's hot Chile play  

The Climate Spectator reports that Origin are expanding their geothermal interets further throughout the southern hemisphere - Origin Energy Chasing Geothermal Power In Chile.

Origin Energy has further expanded its overseas geothermal portfolio and followed the path of smaller Australian companies by taking a significant interest in the South American geothermal industry. Origin said on Monday it had bought a 40 per cent take in Energía Andina (EASE), which it described as Chile's leading geothermal exploration company, and is 60 per cent owned Antofagasta Minerals.

Origin's head of finance and strategy, Karen Moses, said preliminary assessments indicated that geothermal could provide 16,000MW of power in Chile. "It is our view that geothermal can provide large-scale renewable baseload energy and Chile has significant potential from a resource and growing local demand perspective," she said in a statement. EASA, which was founded in 2008, has a portfolio of eight geothermal exploration projects in the Northern and Central regions of Chile. The stake was bought from Empresa Nacional del Petróleo following a competitive bidding process.

Origin has exposure to 290MW of geothermal generation through its majority stake in New Zealand’s Contact Energy, and is also involved in a consortium with India’s Tata Power PT Supraco Indonesia for a potential 300MW project on the island of Sumatra. It has an interest in the Geodynamics’ Innaminckka Deeps projects, and also recently began drilling as operator of the Innamincka Shallows project that is seeking to target more conventional geothermal resources in the Cooper Basin of South Australia.