Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System

A virtual view of the borehole thermal energy storage system at UOIT, showing
the grid of boreholes and the building that will be around them including the
new OPG Engineering Building and Automotive Centre of Excellence.

UOIT is quickly on the road to becoming an innovator in engineering, driven by the strength of its programming and research. A major thrust has been established at UOIT in the area of energy engineering, and is aimed at addressing many of the present and future energy challenges facing society.

One particular area of energy research is on thermal energy storage and this work is being greatly facilitated by the availability of a leading edge, on-site thermal energy storage facility.

“The thermal storage system is a critical component of the university’s heating and cooling system, and will help keep costs down and efficiency up,” says Dr. Marc Rosen, Dean of UOIT's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. “In addition, the thermal storage system will be used for research and to educate students in thermal energy storage.”

Dr. Rosen has carried out extensive research for over two decades on thermal energy storage, and is expanding his research in this area at UOIT.

Located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada’s newest university is currently undergoing one of the largest expansion projects in the province. Amidst the hub of all the construction activities lies the infrastructure for one of the largest geothermal well fields in North America. The geothermal well field is the central component in the borehole thermal energy storage system. Drilling was completed in November 2003 and involved three rigs, each drilling one hole per day over a span of over 100 days.

Three hundred and eighty-four holes, each 213 metres (700 feet) deep, will provide the basis for a highly efficient and environmentally friendly heating and cooling system, capable of regulating eight of the university's new buildings.

A glycol solution, encased in polyethylene tubing, circulates through an interconnected, underground network. During the winter, fluid circulating through tubing extended into the wells collects heat from the earth and carries it into the buildings. In summer, the system will reverse to pull heat from the building and place it in the ground.

Although there are some underground thermal energy storage applications in Canada, such as those at Scarborough Centre in Toronto, Carleton University in Ottawa, the Sussex Hospital in New Brunswick, and Pacific Agricultural Centre in Agassiz, BC, the UOIT borehole thermal energy storage project is unique in Canada in terms of the number of holes, capacity, surface area, technology, etc. Borehole thermal energy storage, which is similar to the borehole geothermal system, involves storage and provides for both heating and cooling on a seasonal basis. Large-scale storage systems, comparable to the UOIT one, have been implemented at Stockton College in New Jersey and in Sweden.

The UOIT borehole thermal energy storage system was completed in 2004.

The geothermal site provides the distinct opportunity for use by the university’s engineering faculty as an invaluable research and teaching lab. The facility will not only help to significantly reduce energy consumption, but will also provide extensive research opportunities and enhance the educational experience for students in energy-related programs.

Students will have the rich opportunity of on-site education in one of North America’s biggest geothermal fields, exclusive to UOIT Engineering programs, and will also benefit from the expert knowledge of UOIT faculty. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science professor Ibrahim Dincer has collaborated with Dr. Rosen on thermal storage research for several years, and the team recently co-authored a book entitled, Thermal Energy Storage: Systems and Applications, which focuses on new and leading edge uses of thermal storage.

According to Dr. Rosen, who is a past president of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, “UOIT’s borehole thermal storage system demonstrates the benefits of the technology better than the over 25 case studies presented in our book, and constitutes one of the most important geothermal storage sites in the world.”

The geothermal project is only one area of UOIT's innovative learning ensemble.

One of the main thrusts of the university is to provide energy education. The emphasis on energy issues in many industries has necessitated the creation of several unique energy-related engineering programs, including Mechanical Engineering with an Energy Engineering option, Energy Systems Engineering and Nuclear Engineering. Together, these programs make UOIT’s energy engineering programming one of the largest in Canada.