Alberta funding study for geothermal test site in the province

The Alberta government is investing in geothermal energy innovation in the province.

It announced Tuesday that it's putting $750,000 into a feasibility study for an open-access geothermal drilling test site. 

The province says this test site would be the first in Canada and leverage Alberta's drilling expertise. 

Called the Alberta Drilling Accelerator, it would aim to advance geothermal technology, which uses naturally occurring underground heat to generate power. 

The feasibility study will be led by Calgary-based Eavor Technologies. The geothermal technology company is constructing its first commercial project in Germany with funding from the provincial and federal governments. 

The company's executive vice-president of corporate affairs said it's critical to move geothermal energy ahead so it can keep up with other renewable energy resources like wind and solar. 

"We need to get the demonstrations in the ground because you can't compare immature technologies to mature technologies," said Eavor's Jeanine Vany. "Wind and solar are quite mature and have had their time to come down the cost curve," she said.

Eavor's president and CEO, John Redfern says as wind and solar have advanced, interest in geothermal energy has also heated up.

"The need, and part of the case for geothermal, has only come up because of the rise of wind and solar. With a lot of the wind and solar it's definitely an inexpensive way to add lots of naked kilowatts quickly. But over time, you need something that's less intermittent and something that is more reliable — and that's where we come in."  

"We're being drawn into the market because of the success of wind and solar," Redfern said.

Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz says the study will look into things like where the facility will go, and whether it will be economically and environmentally viable. 

She said the study will "look at the opportunities that exist within having an Alberta geothermal accelerator, what we think those opportunities would be, what the cost might be, and then develop the business plan moving forward.

"I think that it makes sense to obviously do the due diligence before we bring all the partners together to scale the accelerator up."

Schulz added she believes there is a "huge amount of potential." 

Mark Scholz, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors said Alberta's experience with drilling in the oil and gas sector will play a key role in the geothermal industry's needs. 

"The reality is that subsurface resources cannot be developed without a drilling rig and most often a service rig," he said.

The Alberta government has committed to generating 30 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2030. Schulz said she believes geothermal energy is more reliable than wind and solar energies, and it can all tie together to meet that goal.

"I think one of the benefits, of course, that geothermal has is that it is a reliable base load energy, which is something that we don't necessarily see with wind and solar," said Schulz.

"So it's not that we're picking and choosing, either, or that we want to. We know that the answer needs to be an 'all of the above' approach, and we're pretty excited about the opportunities that geothermal has for us here in Alberta."

The province says if the study shows the facility is economically and environmentally viable, and the project receives final approval from the provincial government, drilling could start as early as 2025.