Kirsten Marcia looks forward to the day when the Deep Earth Energy Corp. will open a geothermal demonstration project in Estevan, which would be the first geothermal power producing facility of its kind in Canada.
Marcia, speaking with the聽Mercury聽last week, said they are currently raising capital so they can move into the next phase, which is their bankable feasibility study. It鈥檚 an $8 million component of the project that requires a strategic partner.聽
鈥淚t includes the drilling of a very deep 3,000-metre production well and approximately a 1,000-metre injection well,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t takes it to the stage where, for this first plant, it shouldn鈥檛 require any more equity to get the plant up and running.
鈥淭he idea is once we鈥檙e bankable, then continued federal funding can support this project, along with conventional bank debt. So this next phase is so important as far as proving this project works, getting it to the finish line, generating revenue and producing power.鈥�
Marcia, who is a former Estevan resident, revealed plans several years ago to have a five-megawatt geothermal demonstration project constructed south of Estevan near the Boundary Dam Power Station. It would be the first project of its kind in the country.
While it would generate about five megawatts, the size of each plant can be ramped up based on the number of wells drilled.
鈥淚f it makes sense at a location to build a 10 or a 15-megawatt plant, and that鈥檚 what the economics suggest is the right thing to do, then certainly that鈥檚 just a function of additional wells being drilled,鈥� said Marcia.
Marcia would love to see the drilling program begin in April.
鈥淭he program will include an initial seismic program that鈥檚 going to take about two months,鈥� said Marcia. 鈥淲e believe the project area has trade seismic that we鈥檒l purchase first as part of our study.鈥�
Then the initial production well, the coring, testing and engineering will follow. The injection well will be drilled and the final engineering and redesign of the project will occur.
鈥淚n all, the bankable feasibility study will be a 10 to 11-month project,鈥� said Marcia.
Deep Earth鈥檚 efforts received a boost last month when SaskPower revealed its plans to have 50 per cent of its power generated by renewables by 2030. Wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal were all part of the plan.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 wonderful that SaskPower is weighing a number of options for our future grid,鈥� said Marcia. 鈥淲e need to find and replace new power sources. The fact that they鈥檙e including renewables such as geothermal, additional wind and new solar is great.鈥�
Including geothermal in the power options speaks highly of the project, she said, and they鈥檙e excited to see it launch.
Geothermal doesn鈥檛 use fossil fuels, but with the technology they have, it鈥檚 going to boost the economy and create jobs.聽
Marcia described geothermal as a 鈥渨onderfully nimble鈥� generating system, especially with the resource they have. They鈥檙e drilling into a 鈥渄eep, hot pancake,鈥� she said, and they have the ability to position the drills within a wide range in southern Saskatchewan, which can be scaled to meet the needs of SaskPower.
鈥淥ne of the wonderful merits of these projects is it鈥檚 baseload power that runs 96 per cent of the time, and has the ability to be quite flexible,鈥� said Marcia. 鈥淭he competitive advantage of geothermal over a lot of the renewables is that the capacity factor, being baseload, makes it really attractive.鈥�
While there is a larger start-up cost than there is for wind or solar, the payback is more attractive because of its ability to supply baseload power.
The estimated cost to get the five-megawatt demonstration project going is $40 million.聽
