Field report on the vertical ground-coupled heat pump pilot project for the Forum building in Kuujjuaq (Nunavik, Canada)

Rajaobelison, Miora Mirah et Raymond, Jasmin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7486-9185 (2025). Field report on the vertical ground-coupled heat pump pilot project for the Forum building in Kuujjuaq (Nunavik, Canada) Field report (R2279). INRS Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Québec.

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Résumé

The present field report describes the drilling of a geothermal exploration borehole and the installation of a ground heat exchanger for a pilot ground-coupled heat pump project led by Kujjuamiut Inc. as part of the Kuujjuaq Clean Energy Plan and funded by the “Indigenous Off-Diesel Initiative” of Natural Resources Canada. For this project, Borehole drilling was made by Avataa Rouillier Drilling, Geophysical well logging was made by Université Laval and ground heat exchanger installation was made by Induktion Géothermie. The Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) collected and described the drilled core and kept track of the drilling process. In 2021, a 240 m-deep well was drilled near the Kuujjuaq Forum building to assess the deep and shallow geothermal resource potential (Miranda and et al. 2022). Analysis results suggested that a 140 m-deep ground heat exchanger (GHE) located near the Forum could be used to extract about 9.8 MWh of thermal energy per year (Géotherma Solutions Inc, 2022). A pilot project was subsequently initiated with the goal of installing a GHE, which is expected to be connected to an experimental heat pump system by the end of March 2025. The heat pump system will heat office space in the Forum building and ultimately demonstrate the use of geothermal technologies in a subarctic climate. The present report describes the field work carried from September to November 2024, during which the aforementioned borehole was extended to a depth of 450 m. The objectives were to evaluate the geothermal gradient and then to better characterize the subsurface at greater depth using various geophysical logs prior to installing the GHE. After a basic geographical and geological introduction, an overview of the drilling activities is presented, followed by a summary of the results of the well logs and finally a description of the installation of the ground heat exchanger.

Type de document:	Rapport
Mots-clés libres:	geothermal exploration borehole; ground heat exchanger; GHE; ground-coupled heat pump
Centre:	Centre Eau Terre Environnement
Date de dépôt:	28 mai 2025 20:21
Dernière modification:	26 août 2025 14:23
URI:	https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/16478

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