Geothermal

Geothermal project advances in Canada

Geothermal project advances in Canada

DEEP Earth Energy Production Corp. said it has begun engineering and procurement activities for a planned 25 MW geothermal facility in Saskatchewan. Field construction is planned for the third quarter. 

DEEP said that the reservoir characteristics could support construction of multiple geothermal expansion facilities in southeast Saskatchewan over several years. The project includes a 5 MW power purchase agreement with SaskPower. 

Plans call for the facility to be built in two phases: 5 MW followed by an additional 20 MW at the same location. Production and injection wells are planned to be drilled to a depth of around 3.5 kilometers and horizontally for an additional 3 kilometers.  

DEEP said it planned to use a “ribcage” layout and geothermal well field design. Wells with equivalent depth, lateral length and step out are drilled in the hydrocarbon resource plays of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and DEEP said it would use similar techniques. The well design also incorporates learnings from five vertical and one horizontal test wells drilled from 2018 – 2021. 

GO DEEPER: Fervo Energy co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer joined the Texas Power Podcast with Doug Lewin to discuss a hoped-for resurgence in the geothermal energy industry. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

According to the company, a subsurface geological reservoir model predicts that the well spacing for the first 25 MW field development will use around 10% of its entire subsurface lease that covers some 97,775 acres. The subsurface lease is expected to support the build-out of multiple power facilities greater than 200 MW.  

The geothermal resource is designed to generate power using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. Licensing and permitting for all well and surface facilities are slated to start during the first quarter.

The company said that field work for a 56.2-square-filometer 3D seismic program has started and is slated to be completed in March. Data will be used for horizontal well trajectory planning on the eastern half of the first well array and for future expansion planning. 

In addition to geothermal power production, the DEEP subsurface lease contains separate intervals that are expected to have the characteristics necessary for CO2 storage. DEEP said it is exploring CO2 storage opportunities to develop what it said would be a “major multi-use” CO2 storage field.