Abstract
The energetic framework of Canadian remote communities relies on fossil fuels. This has adverse environmental and energy security issues. In order to offset diesel consumption, the search for local, sustainable and carbon-free energy sources is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, in such remote regions, subsurface data to evaluate the geothermal potential is often nonexistent. This raises a key question: how to characterize geothermal resources associated to petrothermal systems based on surface data? Answering this question is the purpose of this work highlighting how outcrops can be used as deep subsurface analogues. The variability induced by laboratory methods to characterize thermophysical properties is further evaluated in the estimation of the present-day temperature at depth. The community of Kuujjuaq, Canada, is used as an example where guidelines are defined to evaluate the steady-state geotherm. Rock samples were collected and analyzed with a guarded heat flow meter and an optical scanner to determine thermal conductivity. Radiogenic elements concentration was evaluated with gamma-ray and mass spectrometry. 2D temperature models were built taking into account the regional geology and the results obtained from the different laboratory methods. A base-case temperature of 57–88 °C at 5 km is predicted below Kuujjuaq. This range is based on different methods used to evaluate both thermal conductivity and internal heat generation. The work conducted in Kuujjuaq shows that the combination of gamma-ray spectrometry and optical scanning gives lower base-case temperature predictions when compared to mass spectrometry combined with the guarded heat flow meter. Despite the nonexistence of deep temperature measurements in northern regions, the assessment of thermophysical properties from outcrops is shown to be a useful tool for a preliminary assessment of geothermal resources in remote areas facing critical energy issues.
Highlights
Remote and off-grid communities of northern Canada rely on fossil fuels for electricity generation, space heating and domestic hot water (Natural Resources Canada 2018)
The variability induced to the prediction of the temperature field at depth and originating from the laboratory methods was assessed in this study
The use of the four aforementioned methods indicates that thermal conductivity and radiogenic heat production are affected by laboratory analysis
Summary
Remote and off-grid communities of northern Canada rely on fossil fuels for electricity generation, space heating and domestic hot water (Natural Resources Canada 2018). Miranda et al Geotherm Energy (2020) 8:4 and offset the use of fossil fuels, the search for local sources of environmentally friendly energy is of fundamental interest. Amongst the renewable energy options, geothermal resources have the advantage of providing continuous heating and base-load power generation regardless of the weather conditions. From 1990 to 2013, the ground-source heat pump (GSHP) market experienced a significant increase from 450 to 8250 installed units. More than 110 000 GSHP units were installed throughout the southern part of the country until 2013 (Raymond et al 2015). Assuming a linear growth of this market, more than 180 000 units might have been installed by 2019. Deep geothermal resources have been the target of recent research (e.g., Bédard et al 2018; Ferguson and Grasby 2014; Grasby et al 2012; Hofmann et al 2014; Majorowicz and Grasby 2010; Majorowicz and Minea 2012, 2015a; Majorowicz and Moore 2014; Nasr et al 2018), but no geothermal power plant is yet producing electricity
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