The Province Government has supplied $175,000 to Deep Earth Energy Production to drill wells to test the power production capability of geothermal energy in the province. 

"We have a program called the Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF), "explained Wes Jickling, CEO of Innovation Saskatchewan. "And what that fund does is it's an application program. So you apply and we basically are looking for projects that are innovative technologies or technologies that focus on developing in the key sectors of the province. So in this case, it's energy or electricity production."

"So DEEP applied and we really liked it, the board really liked the project. Because really what it's doing is researching and developing geothermal technology in Saskatchewan. Is it possible with this technology to produce baseload power with zero emissions? Is it possible to do this for the first time in Canada? This would be the first of its kind in the country."

DEEP Energy will bore into an aquifer 3 km underground has hot water. Pump that water to the surface and use it for energy production.

"Really what this project is doing is trying to answer the question of how well with this geothermal technology work in Saskatchewan and in particular, in the Estevan area. That's what the funding is for. That's what we are hoping to get is to help DEEP Energy answer that question, see if their technology is going to work in developing and producing geothermal electricity."

"We're definitely optimistic that the results will be good. If we have a source of zero-emission baseload electricity, that's a positive but that's the reason we're interested in answering that question that DEEP Energy is posing to answer, which is how well is this going to work given the geography and the geology in Saskatchewan."

Drilling is expected to start sometime this summer. 

READ MORE: DEEP Earth Energy to Explore Geothermal Power Production in the Southeast