Geothermal heated swimming pool closer to completion in Australia

The heated swimming pool will be the first of its kind in Victoria.

A geothermal heated swimming pool is being constructed in Trarlgon, a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The new Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre (GRAC) is the first of its kind in Victoria.

Phase two of the project has broke ground.

Construction has begun for phase two of the $57 million GRAC with the drilling of a 620-meter deep injection bore on Kay Street. This new bore will pump heated water back into the ground at 40 degrees Celsius.

The construction of this bore follows the building of the recently finished bore that was part of phase one. The phase one bore has been designed to pump water up from the ground to the surface.

Additionally, the geothermal heated swimming pool system will utilize a heat exchanger through which heat energy from the bore water will separately circulate pool water. The next step of the GRAC project will be to link the two bores to the building.

The project is considered to be highly cost effective as it is expected to save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in gas bills as well as reduce hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The geothermal heating swimming pool will decrease CO2 emissions by 730 tons.

The geothermal swimming pool will give Latrobe City Council the ability to cut gas bills and save $370,000 on continual operating costs. At the same type, the system is expected to lower carbon emissions (CO2) by730 tons.

According to Latrobe City GRAC senior project manager Luke McGrath, the geothermal technology has already been in use around Australia. Presently, there are 12 systems operating successfully in Western Australia. However, the system at Traralgon will be the first in the state to host a geothermal aquatic center.

“There were many bore holes dug in Traralgon in the 70s,” McGrath said, Latrobe Valley Express reports. “We’ve been careful with the process, using engineers with a proven track record to make the system work.”

As for the geothermal heated swimming pool GRAC project, the Latrobe City mayor Dan Clancey says that the facility is not only cost effective, but state-of-the-art.