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Is Geothermal Energy Ready for Prime Time in Canada?

By crooky | December 31, 2007

A recent Canadian Press article announced that Yellowknife, NWT is getting ready to pilot a geothermal power system by repurposing an abandoned gold mine. The mine, which goes as far as 2.5 km into the Earth’s crust can heat water to a balmy 50 degrees celcius. Some geothermal specialists are planning on running a pilot program in which the heated water will be used to heat the interiors of homes and businesses in Yellowknife. Eventually, they’re hoping that they will get a full 20MW system up and running that can heat half the homes in Yellowknife. As fossil fuel price increases and aging hydroelectric infrastructure across Canada drive up the cost of electricity, the relatively small footprint, zero emissions and constantly renewable nature of geothermal power may prove to be an effective source of energy for Canada in the future.

The abandoned gold mine in Yellowknife certainly is an innovative solution but to generate electricity from geothermal formations, you need to be able to get steam or water to 100 degrees Celcius. There is a test geothermal site in the Meager Mountain - Pebble Creek area of British Columbia that could lead to a 100 MW electrical facility if the pilot is successful.

There are also apparently tens of thousands of homes and business in Canada using heat pipe technology to heat their homes. I certainly know if I was building a new home, I’d build in something like a heat pipe.

While the long and troubled history of the Meager Mountain test site might suggest that geothermal energy in Canada is nothing more than a pipe dream (pun intended). All I am suggesting is that the rising cost of energy will bring things like geothermal energy within reasonable reach for a lot of Canadian jurisdictions. Some strong infrastructure investments at this stage by Provincial and Federal agencies responsible for energy and mines might save Canadians some pain in the long run and help us maintain our energy cost competitiveness as hydroelectricity starts to become a non-viable option in the long-run (due to lack of regulatory approval for new infrastructure).

Happy New Years to the few regular readers I have and I hope to hear more feedback from you all in 2008.

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.

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Topics: Policy, Technology |

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