25.6 Million for Geo Thermal Power from Feds

[sumdumguy]

Good Grief, can you believe?

[wd9]

Billions for oil subsidies, no problem though right?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/deepest-well-sask-history-geothermal-plant-1.4975061 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/deepest-well-sask-history-geothermal-plant-1.4975061

[furrowtickler]

Should be feasible in western Canada pumping 10,000 ft plus to get btu’s Enough to make it worthwhile in 6 winter months 👍🙄

[furrowtickler]

But I will guarantee what is going to happen.... they will tax the absolute living shit out of cheep natural gas under the guise of climate change and both heating systems in a cold climate will be unaffordable for the next generation.... any bets ????
How will you heat your home ?? Your kids ... grandkids???

[grassfarmer]

How will you heat your home ?? Your kids ... grandkids???

Hydro powered electricity - cheap and sustainable.

[bucket]

Could have two more hydro dams on the Saskatchewan river system but I don't think the environmentalists or indigenous people would let it happen.

[Hamloc]

Hydro powered electricity - cheap and sustainable.

Grassfarmer I went on the Atco energy sense website to get these comparisons. In Alberta Atco sells both electricity and natural gas. Personally I pay $6.60 a GJ incuding carbon tax and $.20 a kw for electricity.
Average home with an 80% efficient natural gas furnace 89 gigajoules x $6.60 = $587.4
Average home with a 100% efficient electric heat 19911 kwh x .2 = 3982.2
Water direct vent 67% efficient 22 gigajoules x $6.60 = $145.20
Electric water heater 4448 kwh x .2 = $889.60

Actually Grassfarmer this is one of my favourite pet peeves I have against environmentalists(I am not saying you are one or including you in this group) is their promotion of electricity for heat. They believe we can affordably heat our homes with electricity but as you can see with the above numbers that simply isn't the case. If you put a $300 per tonne carbon tax on natural gas it increases the cost of heating the home to $5.10 GJ + $15.10 carbon tax = 20.20 per GJ x 89 GJ = $1797.80 per year. So even with a $300 carbon tax gas is cheaper. Electrical cost would need to be half what it is in Alberta today, never happen. Enjoy your day.

[SASKFARMER3]

But we farmers need a seed tax to help an industry.

Who doesn't see how stupid some of our producer groups are that think yep we have to pay but others just take and take and the feds hand out millions if not billions to prop up shit.

Like bucket says build two more dams on the sask and we have enough power. Cheap and good recreation area and also irrigation possibilities.


No, because it's not the flavour of the month.

[shtferbrains]

Could have two more hydro dams on the Saskatchewan river system but I don't think the environmentalists or indigenous people would let it happen.

Actually one of the local Bands claims to have a deal with PKS to build and finance a project south of Gronlid to sell power to Sask Power but Sask Power won't go.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Geothermal is one sustainable energy source that I could support, at least in theory. It truly is renewable and sustainable with virtually no negative environmental impacts. It is reliable and non-intermittent, and it has been proven in many places around the world to work. We have the technology to drill deep and fast, and in fact have existing wells all over the place already drilled that someday will need to be either repurposed( drill deeper and turn into geothermal), or else spent large amounts of money reclaiming them. The resource is virtually unlimited.

Some quick math on this project, $50 million for construction costs. And it will power 5000 homes. If the generation cost of a residential power bill is $46 per month(from the Dec bill for a residence with shop we rent out), it will only take 18 years to pay back the capital costs, assuming no interest/opportunity costs on the capital, and operating and maintenance costs are $0 per year for the next 18 years. Expected life of a geothermal plant is 30 years, so I can't see any problem with the viability of this project... And of course, the deeper the wells, the lower the EROEI, as pumping costs eventually exceed the energy returned.

BC and Yukon have much better geothermal potential without needing such deep wells, but their electricity prices are already so cheap thanks to Hydro, that none have been developed, since it still can't compete.

But when fossil fuels eventually reach their economically recoverable limits, other than nuclear, geothermal looks like the only reasonable alternative so far conceived. Might as well prove (or disprove) the concept now, to have one more tool in the box, so we don't all starve and freeze in the dark relying on solar and wind someday.