Are Engineered Geothermal Energy Systems a Viable Solution for Arctic Off-Grid Communities? A Techno-Economic Study
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INRS—Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, 490 Rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
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Fracture and Reliability Research Institute, Tohoku University, 2 Chome-1-1 Katahira, Aoba Ward, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
3
BRGM—Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, 45060 Orléans, France
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Dan Ma and Elchin E. Jafarov
Water 2021, 13(24), 3526; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243526
Received: 21 October 2021
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Revised: 2 December 2021
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Accepted: 6 December 2021
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Published: 9 December 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Subsurface Hydrothermal Modeling in the Arctic)
Deep geothermal energy sources harvested by circulating fluids in engineered geothermal energy systems can be a solution for diesel-based northern Canadian communities. However, poor knowledge of relevant geology and thermo-hydro-mechanical data introduces significant uncertainty in numerical simulations. Here, a first-order assessment was undertaken following a “what-if” approach to help design an engineered geothermal energy system for each of the uncertain scenarios. Each possibility meets the thermal energy needs of the community, keeping the water losses, the reservoir flow impedance and the thermal drawdown within predefined targets. Additionally, the levelized cost of energy was evaluated using the Monte Carlo method to deal with the uncertainty of the inputs and assess their influence on the output response. Hydraulically stimulated geothermal reservoirs of potential commercial interest were simulated in this work. In fact, the probability of providing heating energy at a lower cost than the business-as-usual scenario with oil furnaces ranges between 8 and 92%. Although the results of this work are speculative and subject to uncertainty, geothermal energy seems a potentially viable alternative solution to help in the energy transition of remote northern communities.
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Keywords:
FRACSIM3D; shear displacement–dilation model; poroelasticity; levelized cost of energy; Monte Carlo method; geothermal energy; subarctic; Nunavik
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MDPI and ACS Style
Miranda, M.; Raymond, J.; Willis-Richards, J.; Dezayes, C. Are Engineered Geothermal Energy Systems a Viable Solution for Arctic Off-Grid Communities? A Techno-Economic Study. Water 2021, 13, 3526. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243526
AMA Style
Miranda M, Raymond J, Willis-Richards J, Dezayes C. Are Engineered Geothermal Energy Systems a Viable Solution for Arctic Off-Grid Communities? A Techno-Economic Study. Water. 2021; 13(24):3526. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243526
Chicago/Turabian StyleMiranda, Mafalda, Jasmin Raymond, Jonathan Willis-Richards, and Chrystel Dezayes. 2021. "Are Engineered Geothermal Energy Systems a Viable Solution for Arctic Off-Grid Communities? A Techno-Economic Study" Water 13, no. 24: 3526. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243526
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