Now that the NEU has been in operation for the last 10 years, would you give us an overview of its upcoming expansion plans: the nature of the expanded service, its location in the city and the implications for demands on the current facility under the Cambie Bridge.
The NEU service area has undergone a few expansions since its inception.
- The first in 2011 to provide low carbon service to Science World, and the second in 2016-2017 to extend our service to Emily Carr University.
- In 2018, Council approved further expansion of the NEU service area to parts of Mount Pleasant, False Creek Flats, and Northeast False Creek.
- In 2020 we completed the first part of a Mount Pleasant expansion – which included the installation of distribution pipe along Quebec Street up to 7th Avenue.
- In 2021 we will be expanding further into the False Creek Flats, past Emily Carr University to the new Lululemon Headquarters at 1980 Foley Street.
- Planning work is also underway on expansion to Northeast False Creek, where we will be looking to partner with the private sector for innovative and cost-effective low carbon energy supply options.
As we continue to grow, the demand for energy continues to increase.
- At the existing False Creek Energy Center under the Cambie Bridge we have our existing 3.2 MW sewage heat recovery pump. A Low Carbon Energy Expansion project is currently underway – which will add 6.7 MW to the existing facility. Space for this second heat pump was provided when the facility was first built in 2010.
- The low carbon expansion is a $14M project & we received a total of $10.5M in grant funding ($10M from Clean Communities Canada, and $500,000 from Federation of Canadian Municipalities).
In addition to the facility under the Cambie Bridge, we added energy generation capacity at other locations in 2020:
- Mount Pleasant Peaking Plant: We are currently commissioning a peaking and back-up plant in Mount Pleasant. This is our first energy generation located outside of the False Creek Plant – it diversifies our energy supply and enhances the NEU’s resiliency. We will be looking to add more generation locations in the future, as we grow.
- Waste Heat Recovery from Buildings: We are also keen to recover and use waste heat from existing buildings. We have recently commissioned our first project of this sort with the new MEC flagship store. They are successfully supplying the NEU with heat that otherwise would have been rejected to the atmosphere. In 2020, we sourced around 1% of our total energy needs from this building – an excellent example of resource recovery and the circular economy in action!
A) Does the expansion reduce the cost per building or unit by spreading it across more buildings?
NEU operates as a commercial utility recovering all costs through rates. Expansions result in more customers, but also incur additional capital and operating costs to build and maintain new energy generation and to install and maintain distribution piping to carry the hot water to buildings.
A key governing principle of the NEU is to ensure that we offer customer rates that are competitive with other heating options available to customers – currently our rates are 7% lower than BC Hydro effective rates
B) Are there any operational risks or expected outages related to existing service from construction related to the new expansion?
We just completed the expansion to Mount Pleasant, which was a six month project, with no service interruptions!
Distribution expansion (whether it is a big expansion that spans Mount Pleasant, or a smaller expansion to connect a building) can sometimes result in a temporary service interruption.
We try to avoid any service interruption, but if that isn’t possible, we will provide advance notice to all impacted residents and always try to ensure that the interruption is less than 8 hrs. We always provide advance notice of any planned interruption (we also do our best not to schedule work that may cause interruption on cold winter days!)
Also, many buildings have hot water storage tanks that can minimize the impact felt by an interruption.
C) Are there upgrades which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the NEU included in the expansion?
The current low carbon expansion project, which will add a second sewage heat recovery pump, will triple our low carbon energy generation capacity. The expansion project will also improve our system’s control system to give us greater control and automation over our energy generation sources.
D) Will the expansion plan be part of the 2022 Capital Plan?
The low carbon expansion project is underway. Engineering design is ongoing, and we obtained Council approval for the heat pump purchase in 2020. We just recently signed the contract for supply and installation of the heat pump! Detailed design will be ongoing in 2021, and also construction will commence in 2021. We are aiming to have the heat pump installed and operational in the first half of 2022.
2. Is the NEU “model” a template for similar utility and heating systems elsewhere in BC or in Canada?
Yes! We regularly get requests from other cities and regions and we chair a working group through the C40 cities on clean energy. As a leader in the use of sewer heat recovery technology, a priority for the City of Vancouver is to share knowledge with other cities and organizations in order to help facilitate the success of other sewage heat recovery initiatives – recently, this has included Mississauga, Pittsburgh, Halifax, Denver, Chile, South Korea.
Metro Vancouver (the regional district) and the City of North Vancouver’s district energy company (Lonsdale Energy) have taken key lessons learned from the existing City of Vancouver NEU to inform the design approach for an effluent heat recovery system at the new North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. Our municipal partners in New Westminster and Richmond are in various stages of pursuing sewage heat recovery for their existing/planned District Energy Systems
3. Although there are no buildings west of the Cambie Bridge that are currently connected to the NEU, is there a possibility that could change and under what conditions?
- The South False Creek neighbourhood is not currently in our service area.
- As the South False Creek Lands planning program for the area progresses, there could be an opportunity for NEU to play a role in helping the neighbourhood achieve climate action/GHG reduction goals (we would need Council approval to expand our service area).
4. When the NEU was initiated some 10 years ago in Vancouver, it was considered a revolutionary way to capture energy from sewage in order to provide heating and hot water to buildings. Is it still considered a revolutionary source of energy?
The NEU was the first application of sewage heat recovery technology in North America, and has been highly successful. It is still currently the only one of this scale in operation, but as mentioned earlier, we are seeing lots of interest in the technology and potential applications in various stages of development.
The NEU is a fantastic example of leadership in the face of a climate emergency.
- Buildings account for nearly 70% of GHG emissions in the City of Vancouver.
- There is far more waste heat available in the sewage pipes running under the streets of Vancouver than we are currently tapping into
- There is also an immense amount of building waste heat being emitted to the atmosphere through rooftop cooling towers
- As we expand, we want to access and reuse more of these types of local waste heat. The next big step is the expansion at our existing plant where we are tripling our sewer heat recovery capacity
5. At the Kitsilano end of False Creek, under the Burrard Bridge, we understand that our new neighbours who will occupy the Squamish First Nations Land will also have a heat transfer station. Do you know if it will be modelled on the NEU in False Creek?
We know they are looking at Sewer Heat Recovery. It would be best to inquire with the developer of the the Sen̓áḵw project for any detailed information on their plans for district energy.
6. While there is apparently no evidence so far about the survival of the Covid-19 virus in water or sewage, has the NEU been approached to participate in research along these lines?
We have not (to date). I think Metro Vancouver (the Regional District) may be participating in such research. I can give you a contact at Metro if there is a strong interest in this.
7. Any other remarks you would like to make?
The NEU is now more than 10 years in operation and the False Creek Energy Centre is a flagship facility. We have continued to grow and expand to provide low carbon energy to customers in False Creek Area and beyond into the Flats and Mount Pleasant. We are grateful to the local community and our valued customers for their support.
Recently, Council approved the Climate Emergency Action Plan. In this Plan, the NEU team has committed to developing a roadmap or plan to get to 100% renewable energy by 2030. (We currently target 70% renewable energy). This is in the early stages, and we will be reaching out to customers, developers and other stakeholders in due course for their input.