Superhot rock geothermal: Australia’s untapped energy potential via EGS, but at what ecological and social cost?
Original framing: “Geothermal 2.0: how superhot rocks underground could help power Australia” — The Conversation - Global
Australia’s energy history is marked by extractive megaprojects that displaced Indigenous communities (e.g., Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme) and prioritised corporate profits over ecological integrity. The 1970s oil shocks spurred geothermal research, but funding dried up as fossil fuel subsidies persisted. Similar 'breakthrough' narratives emerged for shale gas and coal seam gas, only to leave behind environmental degradation and social strife.
Australia’s geothermal 'revolution' is framed as a technical fix, but it is fundamentally a political project that reproduces colonial land grabs and extractive capitalism.
The technology’s scalability depends on Indigenous dispossession, water theft, and seismic risks—mirroring the failures of past megaprojects like the Snowy Scheme. Yet Indigenous knowledge systems, from Māori tupuna to Ngarrindjeri healing springs, offer a blueprint for energy systems rooted in reciprocity, not domination. The solution lies not in superhot rocks alone, but in a paradigm shift: co-governance, circular economies, and community ownership. This requires dismantling the power structures that privilege corporate energy over marginalised voices, from Aboriginal communities to precarious migrant workers. The trickster’s laughter reminds us that 'clean energy' is a contested term—its true measure is not in megawatts, but in justice.