Freemantle Council in Western Australia has confirmed that a test-bore it has sunk to tap into underground heat is hotter than expected and will be able to sustainably heat waters at the Freemantle Leisure Center for “decades to come” thanks to heat pumps that extract warmth from underground.
The move to tap heat from underground is part of a bid to both reduce both long term energy costs and carbon emissions that are estimated to be around 260 tonnes per year.
Freemantle’s deployment of a cogeneration facility means that underground thermal energy will be used to both heat the pool and generate electricity. According to the council the facility uses a “shallow geothermal” cogeneration unit.
Once the geothermal and cogeneration system is fully operational, heated water from the bore will be pumped through the leisure center’s heat pumps to warm the center’s two larger pools, with the cool water then re-injected back into the aquifer via a separate injection bore.
The move to tap heat from underground is part of a bid to both reduce both long term energy costs and carbon emissions that are estimated to be around 260 tonnes per year.
Freemantle’s deployment of a cogeneration facility means that underground thermal energy will be used to both heat the pool and generate electricity. According to the council the facility uses a “shallow geothermal” cogeneration unit.
Once the geothermal and cogeneration system is fully operational, heated water from the bore will be pumped through the leisure center’s heat pumps to warm the center’s two larger pools, with the cool water then re-injected back into the aquifer via a separate injection bore.
