Canada’s Geothermal Energy Update in 2023

Katherine Huang, Alireza Dehghani-Sanij (), Catherine Hickson, Stephen E. Grasby, Emily Smejkal, Mafalda M. Miranda, Jasmin Raymond, Derek Fraser, Kass Harbottle, Daniel Alonso Torres, John Ebell, Julie Dixon, Emily Olsen, Jeanine Vany, Kirsten Marcia, Maurice Colpron, Andrew Wigston, Gordon Brasnett, Martyn Unsworth and Phil Harms
Additional contact information
Katherine Huang: Geothermal Canada, Burnaby, BC V5H 4E9, Canada
Alireza Dehghani-Sanij: Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Catherine Hickson: Geothermal Canada, Burnaby, BC V5H 4E9, Canada
Stephen E. Grasby: Geothermal Canada, Burnaby, BC V5H 4E9, Canada
Emily Smejkal: Alberta No. 1, Edmonton, AB T5J 3M1, Canada
Mafalda M. Miranda: Geothermal Canada, Burnaby, BC V5H 4E9, Canada
Jasmin Raymond: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Québec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Derek Fraser: Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 0R3, Canada
Kass Harbottle: Barkley Project Group, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5B3, Canada
Daniel Alonso Torres: Barkley Project Group, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5B3, Canada
John Ebell: Barkley Project Group, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5B3, Canada
Julie Dixon: Novus Earth Energy, Calgary, AB T2P 3R7, Canada
Emily Olsen: Novus Earth Energy, Calgary, AB T2P 3R7, Canada
Jeanine Vany: Eavor Technologies Inc., Calgary, AB T2R 0K1, Canada
Kirsten Marcia: DEEP Earth Energy Production Corp., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3R2, Canada
Maurice Colpron: Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 0R3, Canada
Andrew Wigston: CanmetENERGY–Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Ottawa, ON K1A 1M1, Canada
Gordon Brasnett: Sproule, Calgary, AB T2P 3N3, Canada
Martyn Unsworth: Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 0B9, Canada
Phil Harms: 4th Resource Corp., Calgary, AB T2P 0M9, Canada

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-34

Abstract: Geothermal energy exploration, development, and research have been ongoing in Canada for several decades. The country’s cold climate and the push to develop renewable energy sources have driven interest in geothermal energy. Despite this drive, regulatory complexities and competition with other relatively inexpensive energy sources with existing infrastructure have hindered development. As such, interest has grown and waned with changes in the energy economy over several decades, leaving many projects at a standstill. As of January 2023, there are currently no operational geothermal power projects in Canada. Many hot spring pool and spa complexes remain active, and Canada is a leading country in the installation of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs; also called geo-exchange systems). However, in the last decade, the interest in deep geothermal systems has renewed, with many new projects starting up across several provinces and territories. Moreover, projects that had shown limited progress for many years—such as Mount Meager in British Columbia—have begun to renew their development efforts. Research is also expanding within prominent research groups and universities. The areas of focus include both building upon previous studies (such as thermal gradients and the heat flow in sedimentary basins) and researching new methods and resources (such as GSHPs, closed-loop systems, integrated geothermal operations, and hybrid systems, including heat storage). The development is supported by federal, provincial, and territorial governments through grants and the development of regulatory frameworks. Although challenges still remain for Canada to develop its geothermal energy resources, several power, thermal, and co-production projects, ongoing research, funding, and regulatory acts are all moving forward to support geothermal development. This paper aims to study Canada’s geothermal energy update in 2023 regarding the aspects mentioned above.

Keywords: geothermal; direct use; power generation; regulatory framework; Canada; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/8/1807/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/8/1807/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:8:p:1807-:d:1372912

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().