A company in Saskatoon may have solved some major problems hindering other green-energy transition technologies, including what to do with Canada’s large oil and gas-based workforce moving toward 2050 and net-zero carbon emissions..Leading the geothermal wave in Canada, Deep Earth Energy Production Corp. (DEEP) have announced their flow testing program in the Deadwood Formation shows the geothermal reservoir is sufficient to support multiple geothermal power facilities..DEEP began over a beer in 2010, when founder Kirsten Marcia, an exploration geologist from Estevan, chatted with another geologist. Her colleague brought up a different kind of resource under the earth – geothermal energy..“I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, but obviously he was talking about geothermal. It came at such an interesting time in my life, where I had some experience behind me, I had some skill sets and it was a great opportunity to redeploy those experiences onto a clean energy project. That’s how it all came to be,” Marcia said, reported SustainableBiz..In 2014, DEEP completed a $2-million Prefeasibility Study, funded in partnership by SaskPower and Natural Resources Canada..The first test well was drilled in December 2018. Test results were positive, and in January 2019 Natural Resources Canada announced funding of $25.6 million..DEEP has now signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with SaskPower for the province’s – and Canada’s –first geothermal power production facility..The first 20MW geothermal power plant will supply enough power for approximately 20,000 households..Geothermal technology accesses naturally heated groundwater at depth. By drilling water wells into these reservoirs, water is pumped to the surface to be used in geothermal power plants – systems which harvest the earth heat within these natural geo-fluids. Once harvested, that heat energy is converted into electricity through geothermal turbine technology..Geothermal energy offers advantages over other forms of alternative energy technologies:.• Baseload Power – Unlike other renewable, geothermal provides constant baseload power. Where wind power is only produced when it is windy, and solar power is only produced when it is sunny, geothermal can be produced 365 days of the year..• Environmental Benefits – Once operating, geothermal power plants produce almost zero emissions. Additionally, the surface footprints of plants are small and do not compare to wind farms or large nuclear or coal power plants..• Economic Benefits – Geothermal power can be the lowest levelized cost of electricity when compared to other renewable. In addition, the production cost fluctuations associated with commodity-based energy sources such as coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear do not apply to geothermal..“This is a first for Canada – and it’s the beginning of something big. Geothermal energy can create lots of jobs in Western Canada and across the country – all while helping us get to net zero,” said Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Natural Resources..Ken Grafton is the Western Standards Ottawa Bureau Chief. He can be reached at kgrafton@westernstandardonline.com
