Moose Jaw Council considering value of geothermal

Source: Cally Stephanow · CTV NEWS · | February 2, 2021

Source: CTV News

MOOSE JAW, SASK. -- The City of Moose Jaw will is looking into the economic benefits geothermal technology could bring to the community.

In January, Moose Jaw City Council voted for an economic assessment on the benefits of geothermal energy to be conducted.

The assessment costs around $54,000 and it’s expected to be completed in the summer months.

The mayor of Moose Jaw said it’s important for the city to keep looking for ways to grow the economy.

“It's about creating jobs and creating opportunity and capitalizing on all the resources that we have within our community to to form a stable and healthy economy,” Fraser Tolmie, the Mayor of Moose Jaw, said.

The City is focusing on what geothermal could mean for its Agri-Food Industrial Park which is located southeast of the city.

The park is in its development phase but the city hopes it attracts investors from the agriculture sector.

It said the addition of geothermal technology to the park could be another attraction for some investors.

“It will potentially heat a greenhouse,” Manager of Economic Development for the City of Moose Jaw Jim Dixon said. “It would heat a manufacturing facility and we have a vision of our industrial park being around an agriculture value component food production. So it's really a great fit.”

In the 80s, Moose Jaw explored its geothermal capabilities for the Temple Gardens Spa that was built in 1996. The mineral pool in the spa is heated by geothermal energy.

The historic Grant Hall Hotel located in downtown Moose Jaw is also heated with geothermal.