Onshore Energy Security Program: Geothermal Project Scope and Progress

Geoscience Australia's Onshore Energy Security Program is a $58.9 million initiative launched in August 2006 to acquire pre-competitive geoscience data for onshore energy exploration. The program focuses on geothermal, petroleum, uranium, and thorium resources, collecting seismic, gravity, geochemical, heat flow, and electromagnetic data. It includes national-scale projects and detailed regional assessments in areas like Georgetown-Isa and Gawler-Curnamona.

Use Cases

• Assessing regional geothermal energy potential based on described heat flow and geochemical data.
• Informing energy security policy and investment using the program's national-scale scientific principles.
• Planning greenfields exploration in specific Australian regions like Northern WA based on the outlined project scope.

Strengths

• Program is backed by a specific $58.9 million funding commitment over five years.
• Data acquisition is driven by a defined set of scientific and strategic principles for national importance.
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au suggests official recognition and stability.

Limitations

• No column names or specific data structure is provided, limiting technical understanding.
• Metadata for size, rows, license, and author is consistently listed as 'unknown' or 'None'.
• The description is an abstract or paper summary, not a direct description of a downloadable dataset.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, published via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Likely compiled as a program summary or external publication.

Time Range

Program announced August 2006; activity spans early 1990s to at least 2006.

Freshness

Last updated: 2026-04-16 09:26:15.125297

Geography

Australia, with specific focus on Georgetown-Isa, Gawler-Curnamona, Northern WA, and the Northern Territory.