Queensland

What's not to like about Queensland?

In terms of low emission energy, Queensland has three major resources: sunshine, goethermal energy and coal seam methane. It has large coastal urban consumption centers and a sunny, geothermally active western hinterland. In the south it has an electricity grid that stretches far inland and is ideal for hooking up to South Australia.

Western Queensland has lots of sun	Southwestern Queensland has abundant geothermal	An overlay shows they both exist in the southwest of the state

Therefore, laying High-Voltage Direct Current power lines to the southwest of the state and on into South Australia would pay huge dividends in opening up development of the region's solar and geothermal energy. Given that Best Given that Queensland state-owned utilty Powerlink owns 41% of South Australia's Electranet, decision making on new infrastructure could be expedited.

What's needed is for power lines to be strung to the area to develop these

Source: DESERTEC-Australia

This would fit very nicely with infrastructure buildouts that would be required to service the burgeoning coal seam methane industry.

Queensland has huge coal seam methane energy resources in its southeast		Many of these resource lie along pathways that could be used in conjunction with solar and geothermal renewables
Source: "Techno-Economic Assessment of Power Generation Options for Australia," Cooperative Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development, 2006		Source: "Coal Seam Gas In Queensland," Queensland Department of Natural Resources

If Queensland were to engage in long-term thinking, it could develop an infrastructure with multiple benefits. These would include:

1. High Voltage Direct Current power lines that can bring solar and geothermal energy generated from the state's southwest to the eastern cities of Queensland, and also to the southern states of New South Wales and Victoria.
2. Coordinate build out of this infrastructure with that needed for development of the state's coal seam methane resources to lower costs and reap multiple benefits.
3. Link development of coal seam methane reserves to development of the Iron Boomerang rail network connecting Queensland to Western Australia, potentially laying gas pipelines along the track site to deliver gas to WA either for 'gas by wire' sales to Asia or for LNG shipments from ports closer to Asia.