By Andru McCracken
In November, the Village of Valemount applied for two grants to develop a geothermal district heating system in cooperation with Borealis GeoPower (read our previous story here).
The agreement document between the municipality and the company was published at a council meeting in November and includes previously unpublished information about the arrangement.
The Village would own and operate the system and Borealis GeoPower would get a share of 49% of the operating income from the project (the village would get the rest).
Borealis would be responsible for 26.67% of the costs not funded by the CleanBC Communities Fund, as well as costs not eligible under grant programs as well as cost overruns.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline has agreed to purchase the GreenHouse Gas credits generated by the project at an agreed-upon price (that isn’t specified in the agreement). The credits would be considered operating revenue.
The project aims to draw geothermally heated water from the ground and distribute it through subsurface pipes along the village right-of-ways to public buildings. The cooled water would be reinjected into the ground. The system would have at least two wells, a pumping system, distribution pipe, flow and temperature meters.
The first phase would just serve municipal buildings, but if the District Heating System worked well, businesses and residences could be included in the following phases.
