The DEEP Earth Energy Production Corp. has announced that a method for the engineering, construction, and commissioning of DEEP’s first geothermal project in southeast Saskatchewan has been finalized. Engineering and procurement activities have commenced and field construction is planned for Q3, 2023.
Geothermal power generation has the capability to offer renewable, reliable baseload energy (24/7), and the DEEP project in Saskatchewan is anticipated to be the primary Canadian 100 per cent naturally sourced geothermal power facility.
The project team has concluded that the reservoir characteristics could support the development of multiple geothermal expansion facilities in southeast Saskatchewan over several years. With the support from Natural Resources Canada, SaskPower and personal partners, DEEP is now firmly positioned to convert its geothermal resource into renewable energy.
The project is positioned to maneuver forward with the development phase of a 25 MW power facility in southeast Saskatchewan, which incorporates a 5 MW power purchase agreement with SaskPower. The power is planned to be constructed in two phases – 5 MW followed by a further 20 MW at the identical location. Production and injection wells are planned to be drilled to a depth of roughly 3.5 kilometres and horizontally for a further 3 kilometres.
DEEP’s “ribcage” layout and geothermal well field design are vanguard and should be a globally transformative application of contemporary oil and gas drilling and completions techniques, which will probably be applied for the primary time on a renewable energy project. Wells with equivalent depth, lateral length and step out are routinely drilled within the hydrocarbon resource plays of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and DEEP will probably be leveraging this local knowledge and drilling capability. The well design also incorporates learnings from DEEP’s 5 vertical and 1 horizontal test wells drilled from 2018 – 2021. To assist prevent corrosion, all wells are engineered to be accomplished with carbon steel tubing that includes a non-metallic coating.
The subsurface geological reservoir model predicts that the well spacing for the primary 25 MW field development will utilize only 10 per cent of DEEP’s entire subsurface lease that covers 39,568 hectares (97,775 acres). This massive subsurface lease is anticipated to support the build-out of multiple power facilities greater than 200 MW. 25 MW is roughly similar to the facility required to provide 25,000 households.
The geothermal resource is designed to generate power utilizing Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology, which is fast becoming probably the most deployed technology for brand spanking new geothermal installations. Engineering and procurement activities of long lead well and surface facilities items are underway. Licensing and permitting for all well and surface facilities are anticipated to begin in Q1-2023. Field work for a seismic program has commenced and projected to be accomplished in March.
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Featured image credit: DEEP.