Company creates custom drill rig for unique geothermal project

A unique drill rig developed by Fēnix Energy enables the company to drill deep boreholes in dense urban environments.

The system facilitates boring in confined spaces such as parkades with low headroom. This allows the project building to remain occupied and causes minimal disruption to nearby buildings.

The machine is being used in downtown Vancouver on a $2 million geothermal retrofit project at Cadillac Fairview’s 777 Dunsmuir Street property. Workers in the underground parkade are drilling 30 boreholes 400 feet into the earth.

The structure will use a geo-exchange system, rather than steam, for heating and cooling. Adrian Ryan, senior vice president of engineering for Fēnix Energy said workers use a rotary mud solution and a close looped system in a compact machine to conduct the drilling in the parking garage.

Crews only take up a handful of parking spaces, and the compact drilling and cyclone technology keeps the area clean.

"The goal was to minimize the invasive nature," he said.