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The Moose Jaw Township in Saskatchewan, Canada, has committed to conducting a study to explore geothermal energy as an energy source for an agri-food industrial park for economic development.
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The city of Moose Jaw, a municipality in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, is initiating a study to explore the economic benefits of geothermal energy. Near Estevan, a two-hour drive from Moose Jaw, the province is already seeing the development of a geothermal project by developer DEEP Earth Energy Production.
The city council voted in favor of the economic evaluation on the benefits of geothermal energy and is expected to present the results of that study in the summer of 2021.
Geothermal energy is considered a potential tool to grow the local community with a focus on the city’s Agri-Food Industrial Park. While in development, adding geothermal energy as an option could help attract more investors from the agricultural sector, e.g. Eg in the form of greenhouses. It could also heat up a manufacturing facility and support the city’s vision of an industrial park around the production of food from an agricultural value component.
The municipality already explored geothermal energy in the 1980s. In 1996, the Temple Gardens Spa was built with a mineral pool heated by geothermal energy. A historic hotel in downtown Moose Jaw also benefits from geothermal energy for heating.
After evaluation, a test well could be drilled to explore whether geothermal resources would be hot enough to heat larger buildings and industrial infrastructure.
Steve Halabura, a Saskatoon geoscientist and former president of geothermal developer DEEP, will work on the economic evaluation of geothermal use. In an interview with CTV News, he said that “his work will focus on how much geothermal energy is in the Moose Jaw area and how it can be used.”
“Saskatchewan has really been blessed with a wide variety of sources,” and “We hear about oil and natural gas, but there are many other resources that are sometimes overshadowed. I really believe that geothermal is one of those resources ”.
Like other regions with an active oil industry, the local economy has been hit hard and geothermal energy could provide an opportunity to use knowledge and experience to move from oil and gas to renewable energy.
Source: CTV News Regina, Discover Moose Jaw
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