Acceleware, a leader in the development of technologies enabling low-cost and environmentally-friendly extraction of heavy oil and bitumen, today provides an operational and corporate update on the Company’s recent activities, including the successful completion of a 500 kW field test of its prototype Radio Frequency converter designed in collaboration with GE Research. This converter will be utilized in the Company’s commercial-scale test of its patented and patent-pending RF XL Heating technology at a site in the Cold Lake Oil Sands region near the town of Marwayne, Alberta.
Commercial-Scale Power Testing Yields Positive Results
Acceleware continues to de-risk designs for the Project and successfully concluded the full power test of two modules of the RF converter prototype, along with certain RF energy transmission components that will comprise the downhole section of the RF XL system. Each converter prototype module is designed to deliver up to 250 kilowatts of RF power, and in the Company’s commercial-scale prototype, eight modules will be combined to deliver a total of two megawatts.
In the lead-up to the full-power field test, Acceleware ran preparatory tests at 250 kW and 400 kW, culminating in a full 500 kW of RF power successfully delivered to the field test antenna system. Acceleware believes the 500 kW test represents an unprecedented level of RF power for any field test of an RF heating system designed for heavy oil production. The full-power test of RF converter modules is anticipated to be the final de-risking test before the converter’s deployment at the Project.
This test is significant not only because it sets a new benchmark for the level of power delivered into the ground, but perhaps more so because it has validated that the end-to-end system can operate at full power. By testing two of their modules along with scaled-down RF energy transmission components at full power, Acceleware has dramatically increased the confidence that the complete eight module converter will be able to deliver two MW of power, and that the transmission lines can more than handle that power, all at the desired efficiency.
Ongoing Market Engagement
As part of Acceleware’s continued efforts to raise its profile, enhance public and market awareness and build relationships within the oil and gas and clean-tech communities, the Company has held introductory or follow-up meetings with several investment community representatives across research, sales and investment banking over recent weeks. Besides, Acceleware has presented its story to numerous media outlets, including the Danielle Smith Show on AM 770 CHQR radio; the Crownsmen Energy Show; Over a Barrel, a podcast hosted by the Canadian Heavy Oil Association; and in a Global Energy Show webinar on zero greenhouse gas production of heavy oil and oil sands reservoirs. Through the balance of the summer, Acceleware is scheduled to be featured in a podcast hosted by the Alberta Clean Technology Industry Alliance and anticipates releasing a whitepaper on the zero GHG project in early July.