Community District Heating Utilizing Solar Seasonal Thermal Storage Technologies

In this pilot project, a 74-home subdivision will be built in the Town of Okotoks to demonstrate the concept of solar seasonal storage technology - the first introduction of the technology in North America. Solar collectors will collect heat during the spring, summer and fall and store the thermal energy in underground boreholes for extraction during the winter. A district-heating network will distribute the thermal energy. The project consists of four major phases: pre-construction, energy system infrastructure construction, home construction and connection, and system performance monitoring. A systems approach was used in the feasibility study of the work and continues to drive project implementation. With approximately 90 per cent of energy consumption provided by solar energy, the net performance over the baseline is approximately 2.4 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions per home per year or a 72 per cent reduction for the baseline case. The installation of water conservation measures will reduce water consumption per home to 200 L/home/day, a savings of 16 per cent. Moving to the R-2000 standard for home construction will reduce the thermal energy load. Without R-2000, about 45 per cent more thermal energy would be needed to deliver to the homes for space heating compared to the current design load. In addition to environmental benefits, this project will also generate economic, social and technological benefits.