Vancouver International Airport geothermal project wins PPI Award
May 20, 2020 | By HPAC Magazine
The borefield for the geoexchange system includes 841 boreholes at 500 feet each in depth.
Vancouver International Airport Geoexchange project. (photo courtesy PPI)
One of the largest geoexchange projects in Canada, part of the 20-year $9.1 billion Vancouver International Airport expansion, has been awarded the Project of Year honour in the building and construction category of the 2020 Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) Awards.
PPI, the North American trade association representing all segments of the plastic pipe industry, announced the winners of its projects and members of the year program during its virtual annual meeting held on May 5.
The awards program selects a project of the year and a member of the year for each of five PPI divisions: building and construction; drainage; energy piping systems; municipal and industrial; plus power and communications.
The Vancouver International Airport geoexchange system project, entered by Versaprofiles of Saint-Lazare-de Bellechasse, Que., was the only Canadian award winner in this year’s program.
The airport’s new Central Utilities Building (CUB) will centralize all of the equipment needed to meet the airport’s heating, cooling and electrical demand and will rely on the massive geoexchange system.
The borefield for the CUB geoexchange system includes 841 boreholes at 500 feet each in depth totalling 79.64 miles of drilled borehole and 159.28 miles of 1.25-inch HDPE 4710 piping. The geoexchange system is expected to reduce CO2 emissions from heating and cooling demands by 30 to 35%.
The other PPI winning Projects of the Year:
Drainage Division: Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal, North Charleston, South Carolina (PPI member company: Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., Hilliard, Ohio)
Energy Piping Systems Division: Henderson Municipal Gas (HMG) PA 12 Gas Pipe Installation, Henderson, Kentucky (PPI member company: Teel Plastics, Inc., Baraboo, Wisconsin)
Municipal & Industrial Division: Colsman Tunnel Sewer Sliplining, Centennial, Colorado (PPI member company: WL Plastics, Ft. Worth, Texas)
Power & Communications Division: Alliant Energy Private Fiber Optic Network, Madison, Wisconsin (PPI member company: Teel Plastics, Baraboo, Wisconsin)
PPI Member of the Year Winners:
Building & Construction Division: Jim Paschal, Aquatherm, Lindon, Utah
Drainage Division: TJ Leason, Pacific Corrugated Pipe Company, Newport Beach, California
Energy Piping Systems Division: Dell Doyle, Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan
Municipal & Industrial Division: Mary Houston, Pipeline Plastics, LLC, Westlake, Texas
Power and Communications Division: Tom Stewart, Dura-Line
PPI Lifetime Achievement Award: George Zagorski
