Geothermal heating facility on its way to Regina alongside new aquatic centre – Regina | 24CA News
In the Seventies, researchers from the University of Regina found the Queen City was sitting on high of a giant aquifer.
Fast ahead to the current day and town is hopeful they’ll harness that aquifer and use it to warmth their not too long ago authorised aquatic centre.
On March 8, 2023, town unanimously voted to approve a brand new $160 million aquatic centre to be constructed on the present Lawson Pool web site.
Also authorised was a $28.5 million geothermal facility that may be used to warmth the brand new pool, as the 2 kilometre deep aquifer acts as an ideal vitality supply for the mission.
“We use traditional oil drilling equipment to drill a hole into the aquifer and we can pump that hot water to the surface and run it through a heat exchanger and we would have a second well drilled to dispose of that water back into the aquifer,” mentioned geologist Brian Brunskill, who introduced a geothermal feasibility report back to metropolis council.
Brunskill mentioned the geothermal vitality value financial savings come from not having to purchase pure fuel and pay the related carbon tax.
“In the short term, it costs more upfront,” Brunskill defined. “But long term with (lower) operating costs and reduced fuel costs… there is a case for a long-term investment.”
The use of the geothermal system is supposed to assist get the power to net-zero carbon emissions.
It’s one thing metropolis councilors hope will work to their benefit as they attempt to safe $128 million in federal funding for the pool and geothermal facility.
Regina mayor Sandra Masters mentioned the federal authorities is mostly extra drawn to tasks with inexperienced vitality sources and hopes the geothermal expertise will assist turn into a extra widespread energy supply within the metropolis.
“Potentially, even beyond the pool we know, this geothermal system exists under the entire city, so we may have other applications available for it,” Masters mentioned.
Brunskill mentioned again within the Seventies, U of R researchers dug the preliminary nicely to the aquifer, however because of administrative adjustments, a second nicely was by no means drilled to finish the geothermal loop.
“Fortunately, we learned much of what we needed to know. At least at a basic level on the reliability of the resource, the location, the quality of the resource. We learned what we needed to know to provide some confidence here for this project,” Brunskill mentioned.
The feasibility examine for the geothermal facility this previous yr was centered on offering energy to the aquatic centre and it might not be capable of present vitality to industrial growth within the space, town mentioned.
If the whole lot goes in accordance with plan, Brunskill mentioned the aquifer may warmth the brand new pool for roughly 70 years.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
