Enwave building new low-carbon heating facility in Toronto
May 9, 2023 | By HPAC Magazine
Using heat pumps and other technologies, the facility's emissions reduction potential is being compared to converting over 10 million sq. ft. of office space to net zero.
Left-right: Sashen Guneratna (managing director, investments, Canada Infrastructure Bank), Carlyle Coutinho (CEO, Enwave Energy Corp.), and Todd Smith (Minister of Energy, Government of Ontario). (source: GlobeNewswire)
Enwave Energy Corp. has broken ground for a new three-storey low-carbon heating facility using heat pumps at their Pearl Street Energy Centre in downtown Toronto. The new facility is part of an expansion and updating of their existing 60-year-old building at 120 Pearl St. which provides low-carbon heat to Toronto’s district energy grid.
The new facility will include the installation of new assets that recycle district waste heat to produce hot water via electrification using heat pumps, electric feeds, and generators. The technology is optimized due to the scale and magnitude of buildings connected to Enwave’s heating and cooling district.
The company states that when fully utilized, the new heating facility will provide enough low-carbon heating to reduce emissions in Toronto by approximately 11,600 tCO2e, which is the equivalent of converting over 10 million sq. ft. of office space to net zero.
“The addition of a low carbon heating facility to our Pearl Street Energy Centre is a significant milestone for us and Toronto’s district energy grid, because it allows us to provide decarbonization at scale,” said Carlyle Coutinho, CEO of Enwave Energy Corp. in a media release.
For nearly 20 years, Enwave has provided district energy to Toronto’s downtown hospitals, campuses, and office buildings through its Deep Lake Water Cooling system. Now the organization is building out new district systems that use other technologies and sources, such as wastewater heat recovery and geoexchange, to service communities in the GTA.
Last year the company launched Enwave GeoCommunities, a platform using geoexchange to provide low-carbon energy to buildings.
The new Energy Centre expansion and renewal project is supported financially by a grant from Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, Champions Stream and a $600 million loan commitment from the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) to accelerate the scale and build-out of Enwave’s low carbon systems.
The new facility is anticipated to be completed and in service by late 2024.
