Project
As part of decarbonisation, the University of Canterbury is investing in ground source heat pumps to heat and cool their buildings (replacing coal fire boilers). Aqualinc has worked as part of the project team for many installations of ground source heat pump systems across university properties to provide hydrogeology and resource consent expertise.
Scope of the project/what we did
For each ground source heat pump system, we:
- Assessed hydrogeological feasibility of configuration options (which aquifer to abstract from and discharge to).
- As more ground source heat pumps come online, feasibility also considered the potential for interference between systems, including from thermal mixing and supply reliability.
- Worked with mana whenua to ensure the preferred configuration was culturally acceptable and mitigate any concerns that could impact the consenting process.
- Collaborated with drillers to ensure wells provided the necessary water volumes from the correct aquifers.
- Designed and completed aquifer tests to understand the well capacity and potential effects from operating the ground source heat pump system on both the environment and on other water users.
- Completed numerical modelling to understand the potential impacts of discharging “used” groundwater into the ground on groundwater temperatures and levels over time.
Obtained resource consent for all activities associated with the installation and operation of a ground source heat pump systems.
What we delivered
We submitted a robust assessment of environmental effects and consent application to Environment Canterbury, with University of Canterbury obtaining resource consent with favourable consent conditions.
