The Town of Hinton has been investigating the potential for the development of a geothermal resource as a renewable heat source, recognizing the opportunity this resource presents to attract new economic investment and diversification, and to reduce the community’s carbon footprint.

What is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal Energy is a renewable energy resource created by the flow of heat from the Earth. Because of the constant, unlimited energy it can be used for heating buildings or producing electricity. These two distinctions are very important. "Geothermal" is used to heat buildings and homes. while "Geothermal energy" can produce electricity. Both systems use the Earth's heat to produce "energy" in either form.

To make Geothermal work, wells are drilled into underground reservoirs to access existing hot fluid. This fluid is brought to the surface of the earth where the heat it contains is used in any number of possible applications. Thermal energy can be extracted from this fluid and used as heat, or converted to energy. 

Once the heat has been used, the subsequently cooled fluid is sent back down into the underground reservoir it was pulled from via another well(s) so that it can reheat. The fluid eventually makes its way back toward the first well, where it is used again in a continuous, sustainable cycle of renewable energy production. A single well may produce 20-100 MW of thermal energy (2-10 MW of electricity.)

Project Overview

Hinton and the surrounding area has long been home to oil and gas exploration and activity that have provided employment to our citizens and economic growth to our community. As well, this work has provided a sense of what lies beneath.

There are 4000+ wells drilled below 2,500m within a 70km radius of the Town of Hinton, many which have bottom-hole temperatures higher than 140 degrees Celsius. Through research and general understanding of the region, Hinton is located in the epicentre of geothermal potential from hot water aquifers in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

In 2015, the Town of Hinton commissioned a study in partnership with the University of Alberta and Alberta Innovates hoping to determine the volume of energy available through geothermal energy. This was followed by a Front-End Engineering Design, or FEED report, in 2018 that investigated the scope and economic viability of geothermally-heated district heating facilities. The report concluded that due to a lack of suitable or available existing wells, a geothermal supplied district energy system as originally scoped would not be feasible, but an option to drill a new well was possible but could make project economics challenging to satisfy. 

In early 2022, the Town was approached by Novus Earth, an Alberta-based renewable energy company with a proposed project to the develop a 400,000sqft vertical farming facility in Hinton, heated by geothermal energy from a new drilled well. The innovative project aims to bring together closed-loop geothermal technology and innovative aquaponics to grow organic, highly nutritious, and affordable local produce and seafood. The project also intends to provide a sustainable source of heat for community buildings.