Australia:

Perth Pools a Hot-Spot for Clean Geothermal Energy (Science Network Western Australia)

100 per cent success rate of Perth’s direct-use geothermal projects to date

Hot water piped from the Yarragadee aquifer—located beneath the Swan Coastal Plain—has been providing geothermal energy to Perth pools, schools and leisure centers since 1997, and the industry’s future looks bright for the Western Australian city.

CSIRO Energy Flagship researcher Dr Ludovic Ricard says the success of Perth’s early projects—geothermally heated pools at the Bicton Baths and Christ Church Grammar School—has paved the way for bigger, more ambitious projects.

This includes pools at Hale and St Hilda’s schools, Challenge Stadium and the Claremont, Craigie, Canning and Beatty Park leisure centers.

These projects all work by pumping hot water from the aquifer to the surface, then circulating the water through a heat exchanger, where heat is passively transferred from the aquifer water to the pool water. The cooled aquifer water is then reinjected.

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