Geothermal, natural resources skill set, Canada and a market visit to Iceland
Oil pump near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada (source: flickr/ Arthur Chapman, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
6 Oca 2016
Geothermal energy development could put Canadian natural resources skills to work, says CanGEA and is planning a market visit to geothermal wonderland Iceland.
A recent article discusses the possibility of a geothermal awakening in Canada, as part of a wider opening for sustainable energy following a shift in Canadian politics.
The piece highlights an interview with Alison Thompson, managing director of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) and her views on why geothermal could help in the current slow down in the natural resources and commodities sector in Canada.
Energy stakeholders in Canada — government, industry and First Nations—need to work together to look for sustainable energy solutions, but the skill set available should help.
Alison Thompson said many of the skills common to mining and oil extraction can be directly applied to geothermal energy projects.
“We can redeploy those skills; rig operators trained for the petroleum industry can teach us how better to drill horizontal wells, miners familiar with percussion drilling can adapt to hard-rock geothermal drilling and the market size is international,” she said.
That’s good news for anyone who has lost, or is about to lose, their job in the oilfields. Now, all that’s required to begin reversing Canada’s trade deficits is a level playing field for geothermal energy – and that level playing field requires vision and policy changes on the part of government.
So geothermal energy could be a field putting the experience of the natural resources sector to work and help establish another source of energy in Canada.
CanGEA is currently advocating for a Market Visit to Iceland in conjunction with the Iceland Geothermal Conference. If you are interested you can find details in a recent newsletter by CanGEA (link).
Source: Canadian Mining & Energy
Disclaimer: the author is a board member at CanGEA
