A new Metro Vancouver district energy system powered by burning garbage is set to get a boost from the federal government.
On Tuesday, Wade Grant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, visited Vancouver's River District to announce a $2.5-million federal investment into the regional government’s waste-to-energy facility.
“This project has a simple, smart goal — to turn what we throw away into something that gives back,” said Grant.
Located in a Burnaby industrial district, the incinerator burns about 250,000 tonnes of garbage per year. Heat recovered in that process already provides space and hot water heating for 16,000 homes. Planned upgrades would expand its capacity to 50,000 homes — more than triple the current capacity.
The project's hot water will be delivered through an underground piping network to nearby housing developments, significantly reducing their reliance on natural gas and cutting both costs and emissions, according to the project's plans.
The first beneficiaries will be homes located in Vancouver’s River District, where a number of mixed residential and commercial buildings are currently heated by natural gas.
Once finished, the project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70,000 tonnes annually, helping Metro Vancouver meet its sustainability goals and reduce resident heating costs.
Malcolm Shield, vice-president of sustainability for Wesgroup Properties, which developed the River District, said there are currently about 5,000 residents living in the area.
By the time construction is finished, 18,000 residents and commercial property owners are expected to benefit from the project, which will remove heating responsibilities from the stratas there, he said.
Shield said River District Energy — the development’s utility — considered a number of other options to replace gas heating. Ultimately, heating from the waste-to-energy facility was found to be the cheapest over time.
“You get the economies of scale,” he said. “That means our consumers get the lowest cost.”
“If we didn’t take this heat, it just goes up the stack and into the atmosphere.”
Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and MP for Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby, said the region has to build infrastructure and housing that “looks after ourselves” to make sure “we’re future proof.”
Mike Hurley, who chairs Metro Vancouver’s board of directors, noted the project will create North America's largest low-carbon district energy system.
The $2.5-million investment from Canada comes through the Federal Low Carbon Economy Fund and will assist the project’s debt financing needs as well as the overall cost of the system. That’s expected to result in a lower cost of energy for people who receive the heating, said Metro spokesperson Greg Valou.
Valou said the total projected cost of the project is expected to reach $217 million. Initially, it will be funded through new borrowing and remains within Metro Vancouver’s existing financial plan.
Energy sales are expected to make the energy system cost neutral over time, said Valou.
