Canada: Report Focuses on Lack of Regulatory Regime for Geothermal in Alberta

Climate Change and the Law: An Introduction to Mitigation in Alberta (ELC)

Regulating Geothermal: How Do We Own Heat? 

This blog post focuses on geothermal, taking a closer look at the lack of a regulatory regime for geothermal in the province. This post, as well as the accompanying section in the Mitigation volume are designed to be introductory pieces, however, the Environmental Law Centre (ELC) will be publishing an entire report on geothermal in the coming year.

Why is there no geothermal in Alberta?

The answer to this is complicated and relies on a myriad of factors, however, one of the reasons may be because there is no regulatory framework for the development or oversight of geothermal in the province.

To understand some of the challenges that arise when attempting to legislate geothermal, the first question that needs to be clearly answered is – if we were to regulate geothermal, how do we legally define it – is it water or is it a mineral? The second question is then, how do we own heat and if it can be owned, who would be the owner – the owner of the water or the owner of the minerals?

Currently, Alberta does not have a regulatory system for the ownership of heat. This is not unique to Alberta and despite geothermal technology becoming more common across the globe, there is no consensus on how to legally define geothermal resources. Despite the lack of consensus, regardless of whether Alberta decides to define geothermal as water or as a mineral, the regulatory process must be clear and streamlined, while taking into account regulatory decisions made by neighbouring provinces – due to the potential for interprovincial trade and projects.

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