News
Apr 29, 2009CanGEA 2009 Conference and Workshop Successful, A Large Step Forward for Canadian Geothermal Power
CanGEA would like to thank all of the participants who took part in our successful 2009 Conference and Workshop. Over 160 people attended the full 3-day conference session and 250 people were present for CanGEA’s Open House Wednesday evening. The strong positive feedback received from this diverse group of participants marks a resurgent public interest in Canadian geothermal power.
Special congratulations are in order for CanGEA’s Alison Thompson and Craig Dunn, who made the event the largest Canadian gathering of the geothermal community in more than 20 years. Speaker and CanGEA member Ken MacLeod of Western GeoPower Inc. remarked that “[Craig and Alison] have put Canada on the geothermal map without yet producing a single megawatt of power.”
CanGEA Executive Director Alison Thompson shared in the positive outlook for Canadian geothermal resulting from the conference. “I believe that many positive benefits will accrue from the conference including an improvement in the awareness and support for geothermal amongst the general public and our First Nations, and foremost that our governments harness the positive outcome to implement effective geothermal policy in Canada.”
CanGEA would also like to offer special thanks to our international geothermal friends for their continued and highly-appreciated support in helping Canada overcome barriers on the path to a strong geothermal industry.
Apr 28, 2009
Scientific American: “Beyond Fossil Fuels: Daniel Kunz on Geothermal Energy”
An article from the Scientific American featuring Daniel Kunz the president and CEO of U.S. Geothermal, Inc. Kunz discusses the challenges faced by the geothermal energy industry.
Currently the biggest obstacle to geothermal development is the lack of sufficient direct economic incentives for the drilling of geothermal resources. There are no significant technical obstacles that are curtailing current growth and development. Like the oil and gas industry, the geothermal industry would benefit from a strong, specific and appropriate tax incentive tied directly to expenditures made for production and injection well drilling.
To read the full article: “Click here.
Apr 28, 2009
CanGEA Corporate Member News: “SGP Proposes to Re-price and Extend Warrants”
News from CanGEA corporate member Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation:
Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. [TSX-V: SRA] (“SGP”) today announced a proposal to amend the 20 million warrants issued in a brokered private placement of units that closed on May 29, 2007. As 16 million of these warrants are held by an investor owning more than 10 per cent of the Company’s outstanding shares, TSX Venture Exchange regulations consider this investor to be an insider of the Company. Regulations limit the number of warrants held by an insider that may be re-priced to 10 percent of the total number of warrants.
For more information: http://campaign-archive.com/?u=13b43fee2d76566e6f1e01651&id=821b88aeee&e=[UNIQID]
Apr 27, 2009
CanGEA Corporate Member News: “SGP Signs MOU with B.C. First Nation”
News from CanGEA corporate member Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation:
Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. [TSX-V: SRA] (“SGP”) today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) on April 17, 2009 with the Da’naxda’xw/Awaetlala Nation to develop geothermal power projects on their traditional lands, covering approximately 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) in the Knight Inlet area of British Columbia, Canada. Under the terms of the MOU, the Da’naxda’xw/Awaetlala Nation has granted SGP the exclusive right to develop geothermal resources within their territory for a ten year period. The MOU may be replaced by a definitive long-term agreement at SGP’s election. The Da’naxda’xw/Awaetlala Nation may benefit from SGP’s activities through the provision of, among other things, employment opportunities through construction and operation of any generation facilities, and financial support of the Da’naxda’xw/Awaetlala Nation’s educational and lodge resort development initiatives by way of a revenue sharing arrangement.
For more information: Click here.
Apr 23, 2009
CanGEA Corporate Member News: “Testing Demonstrates Potentially Commercial Permeability”
News from CanGEA corporate member Western GeoPower Corporation:
Western GeoPower Corp., a renewable energy company, today announced that independent consultants GeothermEx, Inc., have recommended a drilling program at the South Meager geothermal reservoir to target a recently-identified zone of high permeability which has demonstrated commercial potential.
Reporting on the results of airlift-assisted flow-testing of well MC-8, GeothermEx projected that a new deviated well starting from a lower wellhead elevation into the same permeable zone and at a much shorter vertical depth than well MC-8 would flow at the equivalent of more than 6 megawatts (MW) of electrical energy. Well MC-8 itself was unable to sustain self-flow following air lifting due to physical constraints imposed by the deep water table.
For more information: Click here.
Apr 14, 2009
CanGEA Weekly FAQ #3 Posted
Check out CanGEA’s weekly FAQ, now posted.
What is the Difference Between Geothermal “Heating and Cooling” and Geothermal “Power”?
Apr 09, 2009
Weekly Geothermal FAQ’s Posted
Check out our Geothermal Frequently Asked Questions Page to view the most recent postings in our FAQ series!
Apr 09, 2009
CanGEA Corporate Member News: SGP to Acquire Remaining Shares of Cayley
Corporate member news from Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation:
Vancouver, British Columbia – Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (TSX-V: SRA) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Amendment to the Securities Exchange Agreement dated April 6, 2009, which, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, will accelerate its acquisition of Cayley Geothermal Corp. (“Cayley”).
Under the original Share Exchange Agreement, dated November 6, 2006, Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (“Sierra”) was to acquire all of the Cayley shares owned by three Cayley shareholders in four stages over a three-year period. Three of these four stages have already been completed and Sierra currently owns 83.43% of the outstanding Cayley shares. In the fourth and final stage, Sierra is to exchange an aggregate of 3,220,548 of its common shares for an aggregate of 373,506 Cayley shares (representing the last 16.57% of the Cayley shares) owned by Gary R. Thompson and Joel A. Ronne. This final stage was originally scheduled to complete on November 21, 2009 but under the terms of the Amendment it will be rescheduled to the first business day following the date the Amendment is approved by Sierra’s shareholders. Sierra plans to ask its shareholders to approve the Amendment at its annual general meeting on May 14, 2009.
To read the full article: Click here.
Apr 09, 2009
The Vancouver Sun: “B.C. needs big energy changes”
An article featured in The Vancouver Sun discussing B.C.‘s energy future. Geothermal, an abundant resource in B.C., is mentioned as a possible solution to fossil fuel generated energy.
Fossil fuels or green energy: What’s British Columbia’s vision? The debate over British Columbia’s energy future is heating up in the province.
This is a good thing. Global warming urgency and the growing energy crisis require communities around the world to debate and develop visions for a green energy future.
Electricity conservation measures, renewable energy projects and carbon pricing are hot topics and necessarily so. But we need public discussion of the big picture, too.
Are we serious about transitioning off fossil fuels? Building a zero carbon economy? And if so, how will we get there? What laws do we need? What technologies need to be deployed?
Some aspects of the vision are clear: We need to stop fossil fuel emissions entirely. Today, three-quarters of B.C.‘s energy (for vehicles, heating, industry, electricity) is from greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels. Less than a quarter is low-GHG hydroelectricity. So the task is enormous. No society of our size has yet accomplished it. But some smaller ones have and many bigger ones are well on their way.
To read the full article: Click here.
Apr 07, 2009
CanGEA Profiled by EnergyDigital Magazine
The Canadian Geothermal Energy Association was recently profiled in a special publication of ExecDigital magazine. You may find an online version of this document by clicking here.
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