Imaging, Characterizing and Modelling Canada’s Geothermal Resources

Stories about this project:

• Around the world in 120 days: One student’s quest to bring renewable energy technology back home

• Pilot project in geothermal energy comes to Hinton, AB

• Geophysicsts go underground to investigate the future for geothermal energy

The purpose of this project is to identify Canadian geothermal resources, characterize the reservoirs in which the resources are found, and model the thermodynamic and hydrogeologic processes that occur during geothermal resource exploitation.  Research is focused on the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia and the Tintina Trench in the Yukon.  Activities in this project are sponsored both by local municipalities looking for pragmatic ways to exploit their geothermal resources, as well as geothermal developers looking to build Canada's first geothermal power plants.

Faculty and academic staff involved in this project include:

Martyn Unsworth (EAS/Physics): Exploration geophysics

Nick Harris (EAS): Reservoir characterization

Jonathan Banks (EAS): Geochemistry; cross-over with Project 2