Aug 28 - United Press International

The United States, Australia and Iceland signed the charter of an agreement Thursday to promote geothermal technologies, the U.S. Energy Department said.

The International Partnership for Geothermal Technology will help promote energy security and address global climate change, Katharine Fredriksen, the Energy Department's acting assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, said Thursday in a news release issued from Reykjavik, Iceland, where the agreement was signed.

"Enhanced geothermal systems have the potential to be the world's only ever-present form of base-load renewable energy," Fredriksen said. "This international collaborative will bind the U.S., Australia and Iceland to work together to accelerate the development of geothermal energy, bringing this clean, domestic and natural energy to the market in the near-term to confront the serious challenges of climate change and energy security."

The Energy Department will work on the international collaboration with Australia's Ministry of Resources, Energy and Tourism and Iceland's Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism to develop policy and technical aspects of enhanced geothermal systems, such as deep drilling and geothermal energy conversion, Fredriksen said.