Hot Rock Ltd., a geothermal developer, may build a 50-megawatt power plant in Peru within five years, a company official said.

Hot Rock, based in Brisbane, Australia, is exploring the Quella Apacheta property in a joint venture with the Philippines’ Energy Development Corp. and the Achumani project on its own.

Hot Rock may invest $10 million in exploration work in each property, Peru Project Manager Adriana Lituma said. The company will drill three wells down to depths of 1,500 meters once it completes chemical sampling at Achumani, she said.

“We’re looking for a partner for Achumani, which will be easy to finance once we define resources,” Lituma said today in an interview in Lima. “We have very good projects which should lead to construction of a power plant.”

Peru, which generates 52 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels and 48 percent from hydroelectric plants, has awarded geothermal, wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric concessions in the past year as its seeks to diversify its power supply. The country’s power grid will need to grow 6 percent a year to meet demand that may reach 10.5 gigawatts in 10 years, according to the Energy & Mines Ministry.

Hot Rock, which is also exploring in Chile, traded unchanged at 1.6 cents in Australia.

Copyright 2012 Bloomberg

Lead image: Geothermal plant via Shutterstock