On September 12th The Narwhal published an in-depth piece on the state of geothermal energy in Canada. Barkley Project Group is working with Fort Nelson First Nation on their Clarke Lake Geothermal Project. An excerpt from the article about the Clarke Lake Geothermal Project can be viewed below. To read the full article, “Why Canada’s geothermal industry is finally gaining ground” by Lesley Evans Ogden click here.
“Smaller projects and pilot studies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. are heating up too. The Clarke Lake Geothermal Project in Fort Nelson, B.C., for example, has raised 93 per cent of the funding needed to launch. With hundreds of gas wells in the area already providing relevant data on where to drill for heat, John Ebell, project manager for the Fort Nelson First Nation’s project, says they are ready to drill a full-scale production well that could serve the region’s complete electrical needs.
Map of the Clarke Lake geothermal study area. BC Hydro transmission lines are shown in yellow. Map: Geoscience BC
This would replace existing gas-fired reliance with clean energy, power an industrial greenhouse development, and create jobs and energy sovereignty for a region that is economically depressed in part due to downturns in the gas and forestry industries.
“This project would produce 10,000 worker days worth of work, and the majority of those would go to oil and gas sector expertise,” says Ebell, adding the project would “seriously invigorate the economy in the region.” “