By: Carlos Salas, Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer
Geoscience BC Chief Scientific Officer Carlos Salas highlights the largely unknown geothermal potential in northeastern BC's Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and summarizes public geoscience for the region available through Geoscience BC.
The Challenge
The world is on the cusp of a massive energy transition, much like the move from whale oil and coal to kerosene and petroleum energy sources in the late 19th century. Today, the shift is towards electrification and hydrogen. Geothermal energy usage is common throughout the world, especially in the Circum-Pacific Belt, yet there is currently no geothermal energy generation in Canada.
Traditionally, the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is known for its abundance of oil and natural gas, but it is relatively unknown that it has massive potential for alternative energy. Northeast BC (NEBC) lies within a hot sedimentary basin: an area with above average heat flow due to underlying radiogenic basement rocks. The potential for geothermal energy usage in the region could not only help the natural gas industry reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but could also help communities supplement heating costs, with further potential to produce green hydrogen using excess geothermal power capacity.
Studying a Hot Sedimentary Basin
Five Geoscience BC projects have looked at various technical aspects related to the geothermal energy resource potential of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in NEBC (Figure 1).
