Geothermal Hopes Soar High in Canada’s Indigenous Communities

Three years ago, deep snow covered the Clarke Lake Gas Field, about 8 miles (14 kilometers) southwest of Fort Nelson, B.C. Abandoned oil rigs had been whisked away to make way for circulation pumps, water heaters, diesel generators, ground loop piping, and a busy construction crew determined to finish a vital pump test. The tests delivered 21 gallons (80 liters) per second of hot brine to the surface, which were then reinjected back into the ground, a closed-loop process critical to geothermal energy.

Now, after this successful test, two massive geothermal wellheads dot the site, but it’s just the beginning. Clarke Lake will soon be home to a geothermal power plant estimated to generate seven to 15 megawatts for the town of Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson First Nation community south of town.

Tu Deh-Kah, a Dene phrase that translates to “boiling water,” is the energy company constructing and running the project, along with Deh Tai Corp., Fort Nelson First Nation’s economic development company. It’s 100 percent owned by the First Nation community, the first of its kind in Canada. It’s blazing a trail as an Indigenous project that consistently consults with community stakeholders to not just bring a sustainable energy source to the province, but to also consider how it’s affecting the Indigenous land and residents.

Expected to go online in 2027, Tu De-Kah Geothermal is expected to lower gas emissions by 25,000 tons annually in northeast B.C., equivalent to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road.

“Our work to get this historic project off the ground demonstrates what Indigenous leadership toward net-zero project development looks like,” Chief Sharleen Gale of Fort Nelson First Nation said in a news release.

Taylor Behn-Tsakoza, community liaison and research specialist for Tu Deh-Kah Geothermal, says the project didn’t face any major challenges but instead received overwhelming support from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), which contributed $1 million for the resource assessment of Tu Deh-Kah and also committed up to $38.2 million in funding from the Emerging Renewables Power Program. Most recently, in February, the project was given $1.2 million from NRCan’s Indigenous Natural Resource Partnerships program. 

In 2018, Fort Nelson First Nation received its first geothermal permit, leading the community to acquire the Clarke Lake Gas Field, which had been abandoned years earlier. In 2021, crews constructed a full-size geothermal production well. They plan to install up to six wells and continue with drilling. Behn-Tsakoza says they are waiting for an electricity purchase agreement to be finalized with BC Hydro, as the utility will essentially buy the power Tu De-Kah Geothermal will produce. 

The main challenge ahead is technical: The former oil well extended nearly a mile (1,500 meters) into the earth, and the geothermal project delves deeper, to about a mile and a quarter (2,000 meters). But more gas remained deeper in the well than initially estimated, and the geothermal project butted against it, an engineering and operational problem the Tu Deh-Kah team continues to address this summer. 

This facility is one of many Indigenous projects getting off the ground thanks to both government funding and unwavering dedication from the organizations backing them. Oil and gas companies are still driving jobs for Indigenous communities across Canada, despite their unfortunate record of destroying the Indigenous land they build on. A University of British Columbia study found that oil sand drilling has given rise to contaminated water and soil on Indigenous land, resulting in a degraded food system relied on by tens of thousands of people. 

Sustainable solutions managed by Indigenous leaders are trying to blunt that impact. In B.C., the Kitselas Geothermal power plant is expected to generate more than 170 new jobs, including for Indigenous workers. Further north, the Fort Liard geothermal plant in the Northwest Territories is an Indigenous-led project that attracted $2 million in federal funding to begin its first phase of development.

“We’re trying to rewrite this narrative,” Behn-Tsakoza says, “and we’re no longer going to sit back and watch our resources be extracted without the full involvement of our people.”

Geothermal energy allows for hot water to rise through drill wells, and then the heat is extracted and used to make electricity or to heat homes nearby. Many researchers have long been intrigued by geothermal’s potential to give us a greener heating system, and it’s been around since 1904, when Italy’s Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal power generator.

The technology is now gaining traction among Indigenous communities because they want sustainable energy, as well as deeper consideration of how their land is used for these invasive projects. Indigenous leaders have a say in what these geothermal plants will do with the land and are being included in every step of the process. 

“It gives me chills just to talk about this opportunity to finally have our voice be heard and be drivers of facilitating a way for our territories to not be exploited any longer,” Behn-Tsakoza says, noting how other communities could be inspired by Tu De-Kah, especially in shifting oil and gas Indigenous workers to staff sustainable energy sites.

“And to empower and employ young Indigenous people is also a core part of this,” she adds, noting that up to 150 workers will eventually be on site through all the construction phases. 

Elizabeth Hall, director of the Indigenous Natural Resource Partnerships program, says Tu Deh-Kah is “a stellar example of stewardship of the land with minimal implications to the land while also creating an economic opportunity almost immediately for several generations to come.”

She adds, “We want to continue to fund renewable energy projects with Indigenous people who have deep knowledge, both culturally and ancestrally, of the land for these sites, and we want to ensure there isn’t economic advancement at the cost of dismissing environmental concerns.”