A project near Torquay is getting set to enter its next phase as DEEP Energy continues to demonstrate the feasibility of geothermal power generation in southeast Saskatchewan.

The company recently finished drilling their first well, and are starting work on their second well which will be used to generate power through the use of water which has been heated underground. 

“It becomes a production well, and the second well becomes the injection well, so that we have Canada’s first geothermal doublet, so we then produce out of one well, and inject into the other and run our long term 60/90 day flow test,” explained Kirsten Marcia, the CEO of DEEP Energy.

How the model is intended to work is the production well draws up water which is underground, and sits at a constant heat of approximately 125°. It moves up the well into the facilities above ground where it passes through a heat exchanger. The water then goes back into the ground through the injection well.

The heat exchanger transfers the heat to a refrigerant which then flash heats, and creates steam, which then powers a turbine. The process is called organic Rankine cycle technology. The technology itself has been in use in Saskatchewan for a number of years, but not in geothermal production. Instead, it is used at compressor stations along the Alliance Energy pipeline, where it takes excess heat and converts it to electricity. 

This will be the first application of the technology to a geothermal process in the province.

When the doublet is up and running, they can begin their flow tests and determine the viability of the project, as well as determine what changed need to be made.

“Once we have that detailed data, then we can refine our engineering plan,” said Marcia when talking about the next steps of the process. The goal is to begin the construction of the full-scale facility in the late spring of 2020.

The work on geothermal holds a lot of potential in southeast Saskatchewan, which Marcia pointed out is an advantage for them. Given the need for drilling wells to reach the heated water tables well below ground (more than 1.5 kilometres in some cases), having access to expertise in the drilling industry here in the southeast has been a bonus for DEEP.

In addition to the power generation, there are spin-off potentials as they enhance the economics. The main purpose of the project is to generate power for SaskPower, but once the water passes through the heat exchanger, it still has some potential in terms of heating.

“Before we inject that water back into the ground for reheating, we want to look at opportunities where that water, which is not cold, it’s still 65° Celsius, where we can redeploy that heat to another end-user such as a greenhouse developer,” Marcia said, talking about just one of the possible uses for the water. 

“This is world-class agricultural expertise, world-class energy expertise all married together in a slightly different way.”