Montgomery House is an historic Perth landmark that has been transformed into an 80-bed aged care facility. The challenges of providing air conditioning for such a large and heritage-sensitive site were matched by the challenges of its location – it borders a former rubbish disposal site and is surrounded by residences (and so is sensitive to drilling and testing operations).
An open-loop geothermal energy system was established by Rockwater at Montgomery House to accesses aquifers within the Kings Park Formation.
Two production bores deliver 24 °C water to a heat exchanger. The water is injected back in the same aquifer using another bore located as far as possible from the pumping bores to avoid thermal breakthrough. The thermal energy is used to heat and cool Montgomery House via an automated heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.
The Montgomery House project has delivered considerable long-term energy savings.
Similar HVAC projects have been conducted by Rockwater at the Shoreline project in North Coogee, and several other mid- to large- sized facilities.
