ON A freezing cold morning, a paddock in Scotsburn seemed the most unlikely place to generate heat of any kind.But if a geothermal energy company has its way, energy from hot rocks beneath the farming area at the foot of Mt Buninyong might one day be turned into electricity.Geogen Victoria drilled a 308- metre test bore, or exploration well, at the site in May. It is one of 24 such wells that will operate in exploration areas across the Central Highlands over the next 12 to 24 months.Test sites are located on private land near Ballarat, Clunes, Creswick, Maryborough and Castlemaine.Thermal measuring equipment attached to the wells will measure and map the heat under the ground.State Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor inspected the Scotsburn site yesterday."This is absolutely an exploration phase and it's to allow for scientific evaluation," Mr Batchelor said. "But at the end of the day the Victorian Government is trying to encourage this type of geothermal exploration so we can identify new renewable energy sources for Victoria." To demonstrate the potential of hotrocks, Geoscience Victoria's principal geologist Bob Kitch drew a 10 metre circle around the well."In that circular area, there is one watt of geothermal power coming out of the ground," he said."There are megawatt hours of energy coming out of the ground now. The task is to harness that power and to turn it into something useful to the community."Ballarat's network of high tension powerlines mean if the site proves to be capable of generating power, it could be easily connected to the power grid. But Mr Batchelor said it is likely to be some years before geothermal energy is used for power generation in Victoria.