BC is leading the way in Canada in the adoption of district energy systems, but even developers in this province are newbies compared with Europeans, who have been developing fuel sources and technologies for their systems for decades.
Most major cities and many rural areas in B.C. have visions of one day heating and cooling at least parts of their communities using district energy systems, which centralize heating and cooling in communities into a single or handful of energy sources that reach customers through underground pipes.
European cities, including Helsinki and Krakow, have proven for years that district heating and cooling systems can reduce energy costs and emissions compared with conventional non-centralized systems.
Copenhagen is a notable leader in adopting district energy in Europe. It uses a 1,300-kilometre network of piping to heat 98% of the city using waste heat from biomass cogeneration and refuse incineration.
The system has reduced annual utility bills in the city by 1,400 Euros and cut its annual oil consumption by 203,000 tonnes.
Mary Ellen Richardson, president of the Canadian District Energy Association, said B.C. is Canada’s most active province for developing district energy.
“There is a growing recognition of both the energy and environmental benefits of integrating energy and land-use planning in the creation of sustainable communities.”
However, she noted that lack of awareness is a challenge given that the development and construction of district energy systems usually requires community leaders and project champions.
Richardson added that inexperience in Canada and challenges in obtaining financing remain issues for system developers here.
One of the advantages of district energy is that it can use a variety of fuels, which gives communities and utilities flexibility in sourcing fuel stocks.
In a recent discussion panel, Ben Themens, the City of North Vancouver’s deputy director of finance and a vice-president of the city-owned utility Lonsdale Energy Corp., said district energy is so versatile that the city could potentially consider using waste heat from refrigerators at local grocers as a fuel source.
North Vancouver’s district energy system uses four gas-fired mini-boilers that deliver heat to 1,300 residents and a number of commercial tenants in the city. The city uses gas-fired boilers, or hydronic heat, in part because they can easily be converted to, or integrated with, other fuel sources.
As in many communities, biomass is among the fuels that North Vancouver is considering using as it expands its district energy infrastructure.
“We also want a technology that will accept variations in the quality of the biomass feedstock,” Themens noted during the panel session, which was held September 30 at the Canadian Bioenergy Association’s national conference in Vancouver.
“We’re concerned that if there is a problem with a feedstock, we’ll need something that’s relatively easy to adapt.”
Themens noted that urban density also presents a challenge to the development of district energy infrastructure.
He said that given the proximity of district energy systems to residents, there are community concerns about emissions from some of the fuels used to power the city’s system.
Surrey is starting to build a district energy system next year that will heat its new city hall and library, both of which are slated to open in 2013.
Panel member Jeff Arason, who is the City of Surrey’s manager of utilities, said the city is interested in using biomass as a fuel source for district energy, but that it has yet to gain a clear understanding of the available biomass feedstocks.
“There’s not a clear understanding in the community of what emissions come from biomass,” he said.
“An issue we have to address is not only the physical image of the smokestack, but what’s coming out of it.”
Three Europeans were also on the panel.
Bernard Hausler of Polyteknik Austria said that in Europe, the rule of thumb is to source local feedstocks for district energy to contribute to the local economy and limit shipping costs and emissions. He noted that, in B.C., much of the province’s biomass ends up in Europe and suggested that district energy systems in the province could create a local market for wood pellets and other biomass. (The Wood Pellet Association of Canada has been increasingly vocal about the need for a Canadian market for wood pellets.)
David Dubois, project co-ordinator for the Green Heat Initiative in the North Cariboo, has conducted pre-feasibility or feasibility studies for half-a-dozen rural communities in B.C. that consider district energy an alternative to their current off-grid heating source like fuel oil and propane.
He said in an interview that district energy infrastructure is generally considered to have a 50- to 60-year lifespan.
“But unfortunately, most of the business modelling [for district energy] is setup so that you need to finance that over a lot shorter term like five to 10 years,” he said. “So there are high upfront costs that have to be dealt with appropriately.”