Deep Earth Energy Production Corp., a closely help developer, is planning Canada’s first geothermal power plant that will tap into heat resources underneath oil and natural gas fields in Saskatchewan, according to CEO Kirsten Marcia.
The project may cost C$35 million ($33.9 million) and would have 5 MWe of generating capacity, Marcia said today in a telephone interview. Construction is expected to begin in 2014.
The region is already home to oil and gas production companies that have studied the geology and documented reserves of heat energy needed to run geothermal power plants since the 1950s. Deep Earth may eventually build additional facilities in the area, some with as much as 20 MWe of capacity, Marcia said.
“We’re drilling into a giant, deep hot ocean that’s already well known,” she said. “This is a 45-story-thick deep, hot aquifer that literally goes for hundreds of kilometers.”
Deep Earth, based in Saskatoon, Canada, plans to tap into heat resources at least 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) below the surface in the Williston Basin, an area encompassing parts of Montana, North and South Dakota and Saskatchewan.
