Client: Hamilton Community Energy/Enterprises
Year: 2009 to 2011
System Highlights
- Geo-exchange at a District Energy Level
- Solar Thermal Integration into a DES
Geo-Exchange & Solar Thermal District Energy System at an Award-Winning Innovation Park
McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) is an award-winning innovation and research facility located approximately two kilometers east of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The MIP campus has a district energy system serving it’s five buildings: the Atrium@MIP, CanmetMATERIALS, McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC), Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (BEAM) project center. In 2009, the park began partnering with HCE Energy Inc. of Hamilton to build a groundbreaking on-site district energy system that would integrate geo-exchange and solar thermal energy resources. It was among the first systems in Ontario – and is still among a very few in Canada – employing a hybrid of renewable and conventional technologies.
Based on the experience and success of Hamilton Community Energy (HCE) in the downtown core, McMaster University approached HCE to consult on the feasibility of a DES for their Innovation Park. HCE turned to FVB Energy to study and ultimately design another DES using renewable technology readily available at their specific location. FVB ultimately designed and oversaw the installation of a new energy center, distribution piping, and energy transfer stations.
The energy center consists of three natural gas fired high-efficiency boilers, two chillers, and four heat pumps. The heat pumps draw their heat source from a geo-exchange field installed nearby. To increase the available capacity of the geo-exchange field without increasing the space required of the boreholes, a solar thermal panel installation was also designed. Heat captured by the solar thermal panels increases the temperature of the geo-exchange field, which not only increases the capacity of the geo-exchange system by allowing it to act like a large thermal storage tank, but also allows the heat pumps to operate at a higher COP. The solar thermal panels are installed at the roof level of the CANMET-MTL building.
FVB Energy‘s work included:
- Design and project management of the integration of the 175 ton geothermal heat pump system with the central heating and cooling plant.
- Project management of the geo-exchange field of 81 500-ft-deep boreholes integrated with the heat pumps.
- Design and project management of a 300 ton chiller addition and a 5,100 MBH boiler addition plant upgrade.
- Design and project management of 1,000 trench feet of EN253 pre-insulated district heating pipe and HDPE district cooling pipe.
- Design and project management of a 250 ton and a 4,100 MBH Energy Transfer Station (ETS).
More Information
Learn more about Hamilton Community Enterprises
Keywords
Geo-exchange, Solar Thermal, DPS, ETS