The data, released by Australian geothermal consultancy Hot Dry Rocks, is the result of a new global protocol developed in partnership with Google and a team of geothermal experts, and estimates and maps the planet’s enhanced geothermal systems.

The data shows that the rocks beneath Australia within 5 km depth store enough heat to provide 85 million MW of electricity – all of Australia’s current electricity demand for the next 50,000 years.

The data from Hot Dry Rocks and Google found that if just 2 per cent of the estimated heat energy within 5 km beneath Australia’s surface is recovered with existing technologies, there is potentially 395,000 MW of power available – almost ten times that of coal or gas.

Hot Dry Rocks Managing Director Graeme Beardsmore said: “This is clean, renewable energy that is realistically accessible today with existing drilling and power conversion technologies.”