It is an ambitious project which could provide a renewable source for power generation in Saskatchewan, and have zero carbon emissions. DEEP Earth Energy Production is getting ready to begin work on a demonstration of geothermal energy production in Saskatchewan, thanks to a grant from the provincial government earlier this week.

A rendering of the facility planned for the Torquay area.The $175,000 provided by Innovation Saskatchewan will help DEEP move into the feasibility stage of their project, which will be needed in order to get to the next step of the funding needed for the project.

Kirsten Marcia is the CEO of DEEP Earth Energy Production. A geoscientist, she has been working on the project here in southeast Saskatchewan for a number of years. The geology of the area is what helps make the whole process possible, thanks to an aquifer which lies deep in the Williston Basin.

Marcia explained while Saskatchewan lacks the type of hot springs you see in countries like the United States, or Iceland, there is still extremely hot water underground in the Basin and some pretty extreme depths. Thanks to how the borders line up, the southeast, specifically near Torquay, is one of the best spots to drill.

“It’s just unique in that we can get deep enough into sedimentary rock, where it will be hot enough temperatures for the water,” Marcia said. The depth needed is around 3400 feet.

The funding will provide some of the money needed for two wells, a production well and an injection well, down to the aquifer. The wells will measure and analyze the results, looking to generate a baseload of five megawatts of power. Once the entire project is up and running at full production, it could generate upwards of 500 megawatts of power, which SaskPower has already agreed to purchase thanks to an agreement in 2017.

Marcia said the work to get the feasibility site up and running is crucial.

“It will allow us to test the resource over a long, sustained period of time in order for us to do the final modelling that we need to do for the resource, that will then allow us to meet the criteria for the banking institutions to be able to go into the full construction phase.”

Marcia added there are a number of benefits for the southeast as a whole if everything goes well.

“We aim to develop multiple facilities selling baseload power to SaskPower,” she explained. The Williston Basin is fairly large and encompasses a majority of the southeast. At one point in time, the University of Regina was involved in studies about geothermal energy and the Williston Basin. However, the focus wasn’t on power generation. The temperatures in the aquifer near Regina aren’t warm enough to accomplish the generation of power either.

The timeline for the construction is expected to be a number of months. It is expected the drilling could start this year, as well as the construction of the above-ground facilities. The entire project should take upwards of two and a half years to complete.