By members of the GRC Student Committee: Antonina Calahorrano-Di Patre, Garen Thomas, Zachary Zody, Lakshman Ravi Teja Pedamallu, and Zahratul Kamila
The GRC Student Committee recently conducted an interview with Geothermal Canada board member Jeff Witter about geothermal development at Mount Meager, BC. The interview is part of the GRC Bulletin September/October 2019 issue.
Recently uncovered data by Geoscience BC answers a three decade-old question: Why was a very high temperature geothermal system explored but abandoned multiple times over the years? Dr. Jeff Witter (Innovate Geothermal Ltd. and a GRC Board Member) tells the story to the Geothermal Resources Council student committee.
The province of British Columbia (BC), host to the majority of potentially active volcanic areas in Canada, has been at the forefront of geothermal energy development in the country. According to province utility BC Hydro, 18 prospective geothermal sites have been identified. One particular initiative, the South Meager Geothermal project, has been explored multiple times; first in the early 1980s and later on in 2006. For reasons unknown to the general public at the time, the South Meager Geothermal project came to a halt in 2008 causing it to be labeled as a failure by the energy community. However, proprietary data recently made public by Geoscience BC has helped to shed new light on this story. Dr. Jeff Witter, Principal Geoscientist at Innovate Geothermal Ltd., kindly agreed to shed some light on past, current, and future research and development at the site.
Dr. Witter, you recently wrote a short report for Geoscience BC regarding the Mount Meager project and how it has evolved through time. When and how did you first hear about the project? What did you think about it at the time?
I heard about the Mount Meager project probably for the first time in 2008 when I moved to Canada and started working for a geothermal energy company. I thought it was very exciting, since it is a volcanic hosted geothermal system that is very high temperature. The project is located in the lower mainland of British Columbia near “load centers”, which are the parts of the province where most people live and use lots of electricity. Proximity to population centers is really helpful to this sort of project.