Alderney 5 will put Dartmouth on the map

By Joanne Oostveen - The Weekly News
The largest geothermal project in Canada is now up and running on the Dartmouth waterfront.
HRM has started up its Alderney 5 Energy Project that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by over 900 tonnes per year and save tax payers over $350,000 annually.
"Residents should be excited to have cutting-edge technology in their own backyard," said Jim Brown, energy auditor project assistant for HRM.
"This project brings some district energy to five buildings on the Dartmouth waterfront, improving the buildings efficiency by using renewable energy sources and employing some exciting cooling technology."
The Alderney 5 refers to the five buildings that will be cooled down in the summer from this revolutionary underground thermal energy storage system. The project broke ground in November 2007.
The old Dartmouth City Hall, the Ferry Terminal, the Alderney Library, Alderney Gate and Alderney Landing will stay cool when it's sweltering by the renewable cold energy that is stored in the rock under the parking lot.
"The underground thermal energy storage system was constructed by drilling 80 holes, each 500 feet deep and coupling it with a seawater cooling system," said project manager, Julian Boyle. "Cold energy will then be harvested now during the winter months and stored underground in the rock mass by using borehole heat exchangers until we need it in the hotter months."
Boyle also said that with the pending phase out of CFC air conditioning this will be a great way to reduce carbon cost effectively.
This $3.6-million renewable energy project is now a live project and will put Dartmouth on the map as a community that is implementing innovative projects to meet environmental targets, said Brown. And the cold weather lately has been a blessing, he added.
"The project has been a long time coming and we are excited that it is now operational where we can finally cool the borefield," he said. "The harbour is currently about 2.5°C. The colder the harbour gets, the longer we can use it to chill our borefield. This cold weather is now on the payroll."
joanneoostveen@accesswave.ca