David Dempsey: NZ’s plan to drill for ‘supercritical’ geothermal energy holds promise and risk....

Hotter and deeper: how NZ’s plan to drill for ‘supercritical’ geothermal energy holds promise and risk

New Zealand’s North Island features a number of geothermal systems, several of which are used to generate some 1,000 MegaWatts of electricity. But deeper down there may be even more potential.

The government is now investing NZ$60 million to explore what is known as “supercritical” geothermal energy, following five years of feasibility research led by GNS Science.

David Dempsey, Jannik Haas, Rebecca Peer: NZ is running out of gas.....

NZ is running out of gas – literally. That’s good for the climate, but it’s bad news for the economy

The coalition government recently announced its plan to reverse a ban on new oil and gas exploration to deal with an energy security challenge brought on by rapidly declining natural gas reserves.

But this assumes, rather optimistically, that repealing the ban will prompt companies to invest in new gas fields.