Canada:

Geothermal Energy Touted as Alternative to Hydroelectric Project (Energeticcity.ca)

Artist rendering of the proposed Site C dam (Courtesy B.C. Hydro)

The Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) believes thermal energy stored beneath the Earth’s surface presents a “cost-effective and low impact” alternative to the Site C dam, as presented at the project’s public hearing in Fort St. John Tuesday.

Speaking via teleconference, CanGEA Chair Alison Thompson maintains that B.C. Hydro and the provincial government have decided that geothermal energy is “inconvenient” and dismiss the idea, while several other countries embrace it. She points to the United States and Mexico as being the first and fourth largest producers of geothermal energy, and notes that Canada has similar North American geology.

“The same resource that hosts greater than 4,300 MWe of geothermal power in Mexico and the U.S., including Alaska north of us, clearly exists in B.C.,” she explains. “165 projects are being currently developed in similar geology as B.C. has.

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