D ee P H o L e DR i LL e R 1 2013 8 T apping into a hot mar k et Geothermal drilling in A ustralia puts RD20 deep hole drilling rigs to use outside the oil and gas mark et T he drill rig making a name for itself on Queensland s gasrich Bowen and Su rat basins in eastern Australia is now being deployed on a dif ferent deeper er rand in the west If all goes well JSW Aus tralia s T im W estcott thinks the company s new Atlas Copco RD20 XC highpowered compact hydraulic topdrive rig will have p l e n t y o f wo r k i n t h e g e o t h e r m a l i n d u st r y with future coal seam gas tar gets not out of the question For now W estcott is focusing on geo thermal ener gy in particular the sedimen t a ry form a t i on s a bout 3300 fe e t 1000 m e ters below Hale School in the Perth western suburb of W embley Downs Many schools municipalities and private residences across Australia are using geothermal technology with heat pumps or heat exchangers to both heat and cool buildings In the case of Hale School geothermal ener gy will heat the swimming pool JSW has just started drilling the frst pilot hole at Hale School t o assess tem pe ra t ure s a nd t he ge ot he rm a l pot e nt i a l of the Y arragadee aquifer beneath the school ground Hale will join a number of other metropolitan schools including St Hilda s and Chris t Church Grammar in adopting geothermal for swimming pool heating Y ear round use of the pool at minimal ener gy costs and with minimal CO 2 emis sionsat a time when state electricity tarif fs