New Ontario geothermal regs – stakeholder technical briefing session

On May 18, 2012, the government tightened up regulation of vertical closed loop drilling for geothermal systems by making Ontario Regulation 98/12 (Ground Source Heat Pumps) under the Environmental Protection Act. The regulation requires anyone constructing new or altering, replacing or extending existing vertical closed loop geothermal systems that extend or will extend more than five metres below the level of the original ground surface to obtain an Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) from the Ministry of the Environment. The Ministry has provided Instructions (see Figure 1) to explain to applicants what the Ministry takes into account when evaluating an ECA application (see Figure 2) for ground source heat pumps. The Ministry has scheduled a stakeholder technical briefing session on Thursday June 14th, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  The session is being held at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church located in 230 St. Clair West, Room 107, Toronto, ON.  To participate in this session, confirm your participation by e-mailing shareen.han @ontario.ca. or tel. 416-314-8216. Additional sessions will be scheduled for the week of June 18th. In the meantime, Figures 1 and 2 can be used to proceed with an O.Reg. 98/12 ECA application. For further details on Regulation 98/12, visit the e-Laws website.

BACKGROUNDER

www.hpacmag.com/news/update-on-ontario-geothermal-regs/1001399597/

www.hpacmag.com/news/oakville-issues-advisory-note-regarding-geothermal-installations/1001256747/