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Private company exploring geothermal energy potential of Meager Mountain

A pool of potential geothermal energy has been lying dormant in the Meager Mountain area since it was first discovered there about 20 years ago.

A pool of potential geothermal energy has been lying dormant in the Meager Mountain area since it was first discovered there about 20 years ago.

In the last four weeks however, the Meager Creek Development Company (MCDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of North Pacific GeoPower Corp., has renewed its efforts to develop this "green" energy source.

Using three small wells, the company has recently started test drilling in the area, which is located about 70 kilometres west of Pemberton.

"It's very early days," said Craig Aspinall who is a consultant with MCDC. "We won't know if we have a project for two years."

The company will have to sink approximately $20 million into drilling and testing in order to find out if there is enough steaming water there to make it a commercially viable project.

"We fully expect there will be a market (in the future)," he said. "The California experience has given everyone a wake up call and a scare."

Between 1974 and 1982, B.C. Hydro spent about $30 million in a complete geothermal survey of the province.

That survey identified the Meager Mountain area as the prime geothermal site in B.C. The exploration showed there was a 250 degrees centigrade geothermal reservoir on the southern side of the mountain and the probability of a similar resource on the northeast side at Pebble Creek.

Hydro abandoned attempts to develop the site in the early ’80s because the country was plunging into an economic recession and there was an abundance of relatively cheap hydroelectric energy and low-priced fossil fuels on the market at that time.

In 1988 MCDC picked up the geothermal lease and is now exploring the possibilities that lie thousands of metres below the earth's surface.

Extracting hot water from the bowels of the earth is a process similar to drilling for oil. Once the hot water is extracted, it moves into a plant where it turns turbines, which in turn produce energy.

The company has a permit for the first stage of the development process, in which test wells will be drilled up to 3,500 feet below the earth’s surface to ensure that the hot water is able to flow and move into a steam plant.

If the tests come back positive, MCDC will have to obtain another permit before moving to the second stage of production, scheduled for March 2002. This stage will determine if there is enough volume underground to make the project a commercial success.

The answer should be known by the fall of 2003.

If all goes according to MCDC's plan, they will be able to create a successful geothermal project there with a life span of roughly 30 years.

During its lifetime, the project will be expected to produce 110 megawatts of electricity, which is enough power for a community of half a million people. To add some further perspective, it would take 2.3 million barrels of oil to create energy equivalent to this.

Over the past few years B.C. Hydro has been calling for private stakeholders to develop more green energy projects like the South Meager Geothermal Project.

"Hydro has changed its policies in the last few years and put out a request for green energy sources," said Aspinall.

Geothermal energy is considered green energy because there are no emissions. As well, most of the extracted water can be recycled through re-injection wells, up to a certain point. Estimates point to about a five per cent loss of the resource each year.

"It makes so much sense. There's this huge pool of energy there that we're not using while we're still burning coal and trees," Aspinall said.

There have been some concerns about the aesthetic impacts to the Pemberton Valley if transmission lines are built to transfer the power.

And concerns have also arisen about the potential impacts of extracting so much water so far beneath the earth's surface.

The location is already fairly unstable, with a lot of rockslides because it is situated in a volcanic area. But Aspinall said it's the snow and water on the surface that creates this instability, rather than the extraction of water so far below the ground.

He also said that while this project may be the first of its kind in Canada, there are other places around that world which are documenting the impacts of this type of energy production.

"We're slow in coming to the table in this whole geothermal thing," Aspinall said. "We've never taken a look at it before because we had so much hydro power."

Since Hydro has emphasized the importance of developing alternative and renewable energy there has been a wave of applications from small-scale green energy producers.

Many of these projects, like the one at Meager Mountain, are still in the very early stages of development.

Aspinall said at this stage there have been no negotiations with Hydro either to sell the energy to them or to use its power lines to sell it elsewhere.

"We have nothing to sell yet... until we've confirmed there is a viable project," said Aspinall.