[Slava]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

It would not be the worst idea for the crown to take a stake in this in order to convert low value methane reserves into a 'strategic crypto reserve', much like the Bitumen in Kind royalty structure that was put in place to build NWR/ACTL.

It also aligns with the movements that are afoot for building nuclear here. One day, the free ride we are getting from excess SAGD cogen production will end, and it won't be pretty if we aren't preparing for that.

Interestingly enough, the Peace region is where the last twin ACR project had settled on as a location. Not for supporting potential data centre expansion, but to support development of carbonate based bitumen resource. That resource is still there, and it needs to be produced through electric heating (conduction or RF).

I've been part of teams who owned such assets and did some framing work on a pretty interesting concept to produce bitumen from the Leduc formation, and that ONE project had similar electricity demands (i.e. 40% of the total grid capacity at the time of study... FWIW, grid capacity was just north of 8GW at that time).

So... while somewhat plausible and attractive, it represents several complex megaprojects coming together, and that is what makes me skeptical. Even with intelligent, properly financed, morally sound, competent people with track records of executing will have a brutal time getting something like this done.

I'm not sure what the point of a "strategic crypto reserve" is, though. With oil or a commodity like that, it makes sense because you have those things in case you need them for a particular use. What would the crypto equivalent be for the province?