Thursday, January 14, 2010

Geothermal utility delivering energy community-wide in Tofino First Nation

GeoTility Geothermal Installations and TerraSource Geothermal Utility Services are the brain-child of Jim Leask of Kelowna, B.C., who envisioned natural gas and other non-renewable energy sources becoming less-affordable as time goes by. The energy options to burning fossil fuel were practically non-existent in North America when he started a mechanical company in the Okanagan Valley of B.C. in the early 1990s.
     
Rick Nelson, General Manager for GeoTility in their Kelowna office, "Jim was a visionary in setting up a geothermal utility company in B.C.. Running a geothermal utility is not that difficult in this province but different provinces have different rules." In the province of B.C., meanwhile, GeoTility has found a lot of success by working with First Nations. "They are leaders in the green energy debate in this province."
     
GeoTility has installed systems at Sun Rivers in Kamloops, a housing development that resides on land belonging to Kamloops Indian Band, installed a community geothermal system for the Hesquiaht School, Autma-Squilx-W Cultural School, Blue Berry Community Centre and recently GeoTility broke ground on a centralized geothermal utility service for a brand new housing development for the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, in Tofino, B.C., on Vancouver Island. "It's all geothermal in Tofino at the new the Esowista housing development of the Tla-o-qui-aht community."
     
Nelson says of the company he works for, "We're passionate about delivering geothermal services. What started as a mechanical company under Jim Leask and Sons has become a complete geothermal company," he says, "including all the services involved, from drilling to mechanical installations to heat distribution, billing and maintenance."
     
Nelson says, "Basically Jim saw the day 20 years ago when natural gas distribution would become more and more expensive and he began looking at the options. As a mechanical contractor Jim saw geothermal as the next step in energy services and geothermal was a perfect fit for mechanical company," so, Seven years ago GeoTility was launched to pave the way for the geothermal industry to operate at the same level as other utility services.
    
 Today GeoTility even owns the drills (manufactured by Multi-Power Products in Kelowna). GeoTility worked with Tom Ulm, Sr., of Multi-Power Products to design a drill to fit inside an underground parkade, and as a result, GeoTility is able to retro-fit buildings in the core of a city's downtown with geothermal heating systems. They are also able to get on the job-site after construction has commenced, thus avoiding the delay of  the actual tower construction. Drilling is underway directly beneath existing buildings like the Georgia Hotel in Vancouver, and the Hudson's Bay Building in downtown Victoria, "We have also modified two drills with shorter masts for GeoTility that can operate in all ground conditions and be converted back to standard length for conventional projects.
     
At Multi-Power Products they call them 'low headroom' drills, says Tom Sr., "Geotility approached us to make a drill that could work under those confined spaces, and it had to be both diesel and electric to perform in enclosed areas." The low-mast drills run on rubber tracks to save concrete, and are transported to work-sites on trailers. They are flexible in terms of the ground conditions, says Tom Sr, "They work in hard rock or overburden, with what we call mud rotary or air rotary methods."
     
The short-mast drill is a fast machine, "It has shorter drill rods that have to be added more often so it has a faster tripping (rod pulling) rate that helps make up the lost time. Multi-Power Products has been manufacturing drills for 25 years, initially for the mining exploration industry. "Geothermal was a good match because it fills in the voids when mining drops off in the economy. We don't sell as many but the drills are always working," says Tom Sr.. They sell drills across Canada and the USA. Custom-order drills are also manufactured.
     
Meanwhile GeoTility designs the utility systems that run heat through whole communities. "We drill 700,000 feet per year and fill the holes with geothermal pipe. For example since the ground was laid out for new housing on Esowista property, in Tofino, drilling is commencing to supply heat to the entire community of 160 new houses plus other facilities, including a new Long House and community facilities."
     
Jordan Parrot is one of the engineers at GeoTilitynin charge of the Esowista drilling program in Tofino starting January 2010. "Its one large geothermal field with centralized distribution of the hot water," says Parrot. "We are doing the field engineering and mechanical design on this project. We are producing hot water for the geothermal array from hundreds of ground-loop drill holes."
    
 Parrot says the Esowista field is a large one, "It's a substantial size field, hundreds of holes. The drilling program will take three or four months to complete, depending on the weather. "The company is hiring some of their required labour from the Tla-o-qui-aht community.
     
Moses Martin is housing manager for Esowista Housing, the department belonging to the Tla-o-qui-aht community based in Tofino. "Construction is underway," says Martin, "the roads are roughed in and a new bridge was built to join this project to the existing Esowista community." Sixty-eight is the number of new houses slated for immediate construction and another 100 houses will be built within the next five years.
     
He notes that funding for the new housing development ($17 million )was obtained under the Canada Economic Action Plan, and Martin says $3 million of that was earmarked for geothermal heating. "With the overall size of the project we anticipate the return of Tla-o-qui-aht families to Tofino from places like Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Victoria, and Seattle, Washington."
     
Martin adds, It's a well-rounded housing plan that includes the geothermal heating for the new Long House and an eventual school for the new community. The bridge connects this subdivision, called Ty'Tan'Us, to the existing Esowista community and the the new community will have three access points, says Martin.
    
 Tla-o-qui-aht members will be active in the building of all phases. "We are ramping up the workforce as we speak. We will have a team of labourers working throughout the project, and phase one alone will supply jobs and paycheques for at least two years. Some training and apprenticeship will ensue."
     
The skilled labour will be learning new aspects of construction, says Martin, "We are looking for better quality housing construction being put into these homes. We want these homes to last at least 50 years. We are looking hard at the quality of the houses and we're going for the LEED Gold Standard of green and sustainable housing construction."
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