Year installed: 2014
System capacity:
-
90 kW (pool room)
-
150 kW (foyer, office and fitness centre)
Delivery method:
- Warm water (pool room)
- Ducted heating and cooling (foyer, office and fitness centre)
Ground Source Heat Pump:
- Water to water reversible chiller
- Water to air (foyer, office and fitness centre)
Ground Heat Exchanger: Open loop using existing high temperature (>34C) geothermal bore
ENERGY SAVING: $70,000 AUD per annum, estimated payback period of 6.2 years
This project is a great example of blurring the lines between geothermal and geoexchange.
In this instance, a geothermal (naturally hot water) water bore was used to directly supply heat for a swimming pool. GeoExchange Australia was then engaged to assist with:
- Stage 1: The design and supply of Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) to provide space conditioning to the pool room area.
- Stage 2: The ducted heating and cooling for the foyer office and fitness rooms.
The City of Busselton should be congratulated for their innovative use of a nearby geothermal bore operated by Busselton Water and used for water supply. This project was recognised by the WA Chapter of the Australian Water Association in their 2014 Awards winning the Infrastructure Innovation Award.
For an overview of the ‘geothermal’ component of the project, we invite you to click on this image for a case study provided by Rehau, provider of the insulated pipework required to transfer the 34C water the approximately 800m from the water storage reservoir to the pool itself.