Lost opportunity for geothermal power in Canadas Northwest Territories
Fort Liard, NWT, Canada (source: arcticcircle.ca)
Alexander Richter
13 May 2013
The recent cancellation of the geothermal project at Ft. Liard in Canada's Northwest Territories is a loss to Canada's geothermal energy sector, but mostly for the local community.
While Canadian developers have been in the forefront of geothermal development in the United States for years, little was to report on geothermal development in Canada.
One project that was close to see the light of day though was a rather interesting and promising project in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The project aimed at providing the remote community of Ft. Liard both geothermal power and heating.
The developer Borealis GeoPower worked closely with local First Nation of Acho Dene Koe to develop the project.
The project even received funding commitment from the federal government of Canada through the Clean Energy Fund of Natural Resources Canada for up to $20 million. Initially confirmed in 2009, the funding deadline was extended last until December 2012.
Now the project, so local news, has been cancelled. There are now conflicting messages from the developer and the utility of the Territories, North west Territories Power Corporation (NTPC), on why.
But it must be clear that if there would have been a real interest by the utility to buy the power from the project, it would have happened. The utility now claims that it is “interested in partnering with private sector organizations where there are benefits to the corporation’s customers”, but also states that it “has to make sure that any initiative would not have negative impacts on customers including rate increases or a deterioration in service”.
It is not understandable why the due-diligence review of the proposal for the plant took more than a year particularly in light of the obvious deadline for federal funding, and doesn’t show much goodwill on behalf of the utility.
So it is likely that there have been some political issues at play here. This is a shame not only for the developer or NTPC, but mostly for the local community that would have seen not only more affordable power and heat, but also been able to replace fossil fuel based power generation and heating. So at the end of the day the main loss lies with the population in this remote region of Canada.
But this is not just a loss for this local community but also for the Canadian geothermal industry. The project would likely have been the first geothermal power plant in Canada. But there remains hope that Canada will see a geothermal power plant in the not too distant future, with the project of DEEP in Saskatchewan, but also a project by Borealis GeoPower in British Columbia.
Source: Northern News Services
