AUSTRALIA'S first underground storage for greenhouse gases will be launched at Nirranda in two weeks.Federal Environment Minister Martin Ferguson and State Primary Industries Minister Peter Batchelor will officially turn the tap to inject liquid carbon dioxide into a huge natural underground storage basin under paddocks at Nirranda South.The $50 million five-year trial project has the potential to revolutionise the way industry deals with harmful emissions.Industries, governments and scientific organisations will closely watch the results after contributing millions of dollars in development costs.If successful, the technology and methods will be used in at least five other selected sites around Australia.Scientific research organisation, CO2CRC, last year installed specialised electrical equipment deep underground to monitor the trial.Two deep wells have been drilled, one for monitoring and the other for injecting carbon dioxide piped from a disused Santos exploration well three kilometres away.The gas will be liquefied to increase the storage capacity.The April 2 official launch is the first commercial scale geosequestration injection in Australia.According to CO2CRC spokes- woman Carmel Anderson the liquefied gas will be trapped by deep mud and sink before calcifying and becoming part of the rock formation."The aim is to keep it stored so it becomes part of the geology," she said."Monitoring equipment will watch carbon dioxide levels in the soil and atmosphere, checking for leakage."Ms Anderson said the project would demonstrate the safety and security of transport, injection and storage in the deep subsurface. Carbon dioxide is the world's most common greenhouse gas.She said several billion dollars worth of clean energy developments in Victoria, Western Australia, NSW and Queensland had been proposed based on the Nirranda trial.Researchers will also develop carbon dioxide capture technologies to be tested at Loy Yang and Hazelwood power stations.Ms Anderson said greenhouse gases were already stored underground in Norway and Algeria and storage facilities were being developed in Canada and Japan.
Go for gas project
