Ottawa invests $25.6M in geothermal power plant
EstevanMayorRoyLudwig applauded Friday ’s announcement of $25.6 million in federal funding for Canada’s first geothermal power facility, to be located near his city in the heart of the struggling oilpatch.
Saying he was “very happy ” with the news, Ludwig added, “every job in our economy is helpful” and noted the clean technology is also a positive. Government officials are expecting the project will create roughly 100 jobs.
On his second and last day in Regina, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the funding at a news conference at the Subsurface Geological Laboratory.
The government says the fivemegawatt facility will produce enough energy to power about 5,000 homes, all while taking the equivalent of the yearly emissions of 7,400 cars out of the atmosphere.
The project is the first of its kind in Canada and is led by DEEP Earth Energy Production Corporation, a Saskatchewan privately-held corporation that, according to its website, has a mission to develop Saskatchewan’s geothermal resources for power generation with a vision to be a producer of secure, stable and sustainable energy.
In May, the provincial government announced it is investing an additional $175,000 in the project through Innovation Saskatchewan. It has also received $1.3 million from Natural Resources Canada, which DEEP says helps mitigate financial risks to allow renewable resources to play a larger role in the province’s power supply.
DEEP also announced Friday that drilling was finished on the 3,500-metre preliminary well, making it the longest well ever drilled in Saskatchewan. Flow testing will now be used to determine the design and size of the wells that will go into operation.
Kirsten Marcia, president and CEO of DEEP, said the next phase will see further testing of the new technology, “so we know what the next phase of drilling is going to be, how we do the drilling.
“This is a really exciting funding opportunity to share with Natural Resources Canada. We’re thrilled to have the confidence in this project, to see this forward. Like all new projects, the first one tends to be more expensive than the tenth one, and to have this support means this project will be a success,” she said.
Ludwig said “full credit” for the project should go to Marcia. Provincial Innovation Minister Tina Beaudry-Mellor echoed that support, saying she “couldn’t be more pleased” to see her get credit for the “incredible project,” which the province has supported financially since 2014.
Last November, DEEP said it hoped to have the project operational within two and a half years.
Geothermal energy harnesses heat from the Earth’s crust and transforms it into electricity. The facility will use “familiar drilling technologies from the oil, gas and mining industries to tap into this reliable energy source,” the government says.
The facility will draw steaming hot water, which registers at about 120 C, from deep underground, pumping it up 3,400 metres to run turbines on the surface. DEEP believes this is just the first of many, likely larger, facilities to be built in Saskatchewan along the U.S. border to take advantage of the abundance of hot water within the aquifer.
Earlier Friday morning, Trudeau participated in a roundtable discussion regarding fresh water management at an event held at the Hotel Saskatchewan.