Priming the pump

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This article was published 25/03/2021 (1737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has been a hot spot for residential geothermal installs over the years, but took a step back in 2020 with installations down almost 50 per cent, most likely because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But notwithstanding high profile commercial installations like the Manitoba Hydro head office building, commercial projects in Manitoba have not been as plentiful.

Some believe that part of the reason is the lack of commercial geothermal installation expertise in the province.

The Manitoba Environmental Industries Association is looking to try to prime that pump by teaming up with Manitoba-based geothermal training expert Ed Lohrenz to offer a 20-week training program at a discounted price for MEIA members.

Lohrenz, whose Winnipeg-based company Geoptimize is working on large commercial projects in New York, California, Toronto and the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago — but none in Manitoba — has written training programs that have been incorporated into some of the training program offered by the U.S.-based International Ground Source Heat Pump Association.

In addition to Manitoba Hydro Place in downtown Winnipeg — the largest closed loop geothermal system in the province — the Seasons of Tuxedo shopping centre is built on top of district energy geothermal systems, but Lohrenz believes there is still a lot of reticence among institutional engineering firms because of earlier, poorly designed systems leading to inefficiencies.

“Not a lot of engineering firms that have much experience in geothermal,” he said.

Jack Winram, who has been executive director the MEIA for the past year, said geothermal was an area he wanted to encourage more development in for the province.

As part of his organization’s mandate as the sector council for workforce development natural resources, energy and environmental industries, he said “We wanted to provide training to make Manitoba more competitive and retain and create jobs.”

Efficiency Manitoba does provide incentives for residential geothermal installations and according to Brent Laufer, head of the Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance, it is working on a commercial building incentive.

“I think Manitoba is ripe for a renaissance of geothermal,” Winram said. “It was very popular in the ‘90s and early 2000s, but there has not been much growth.”

Lohrenz said because of net zero greenhouse gas commitments there are a growing number of jurisdictions in the U.S. where new regulations are being put in place that limit the extension of natural gas pipeline connections, forcing some new developers to use alternative systems like geothermal. While that’s not happened yet in Manitoba, the increasing pressure on governments across the country to reduce reliance on fossil fuels will mean geothermal will become a more viable choice.

Lohrenz’s training module that MEIA will use takes into account all sorts of factors including soil makeup, key to the design of the piping and heat pump.

The problem with the technology is that most engineers don’t properly understand the systems and as a result, they rely on rules of thumb, Lohrenz says. These flawed rules of thumb leave potential customers with overblown cost estimates and a poor understanding of the efficiency potential.

The training program he’ll deliver for MEIA addresses those issues.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca