Why Okotoks planned to store the summer sun
When Drake Landing was announced for Okotoks in spring 2005, its central idea was seasonal storage: collect far more heat than 52 homes need in July and keep it in the ground until the cold months. That timing trick is what made a solar share near 90 per cent thinkable in Alberta.
Event date: 2005-04-01
The mismatch to be solved
Sunshine peaks in June, July and August. Heating demand peaks in January. An ordinary solar water heater lives with that gap and covers only a modest slice of a winter bill. The Drake Landing team decided to close the gap instead, by turning the whole summer harvest into a stockpile.
Collectors on the garage roofs would work all season, even when the houses wanted almost no heat.
Where the heat was meant to go
The plan sent the warm fluid into a field of vertical boreholes sunk beneath a neighbourhood park. In the finished design that meant 144 holes, each roughly 35 to 37 metres deep, so the soil and rock around them slowly warmed. The full arrangement is described on the borehole storage page.
In winter the flow reversed. Heat came back up to an energy building and travelled to the houses as hot water, then into ordinary ducts. The surrounding district heating loop is covered separately.
Cost and calendar in 2005
A project like this was not priced like a normal subdivision. About $5 million in public money backed the pilot, and the solar system could add up to $40,000 to a house. Show homes were promised for July and a working heating system for the fall of 2005.
The schedule slipped. The Energy Centre and storage field were operating in 2007.
What became of the idea
Storage worked better than the 2005 target suggested. Monitoring reported a 97 per cent solar share in 2012 and 100 per cent in the 2015-16 heating season, with the storage core approaching 80 C by late summer. Problems with deterioration and upkeep appeared from about 2020, and decommissioning began in 2024, with most homes moving to natural-gas furnaces. Results are collected on the performance results page.
Quick answers
What was seasonal storage at Drake Landing?
It meant holding summer solar heat in a field of boreholes under a park, then drawing it back out in winter to heat the homes.
How deep were the Drake Landing boreholes?
There were 144 boreholes, each roughly 35 to 37 metres deep, arranged in a field about 35 metres across.
Did the storage idea meet its target?
Yes. The design aimed for about 90 per cent solar space heating, and monitoring later reported 97 per cent by 2012 and 100 per cent in 2015-16.