$175M in federal funding for Richmond's district energy utility expansion

$175 million in federal funding for City of Richmond's district energy utility expansion

Artistic rendering of Lansdowne District, the redevelopment of Lansdowne Mall, in Richmond. It will have an on-site district energy plant that will be connected to the wider City Centre District Energy Utility system of Lulu Island Energy. (Vanprop Investments Ltd.)

Plans to significantly expand the district energy utility systems within Richmond City Centre have received the financial support of the federal government.

Canada Infrastructure Bank, the federal crown corporation that provides financing for infrastructure projects, recently announced it will provide $175 million in financing to Lulu Island Energy Company (LIEC), which is a private company wholly owned by the City of Richmond to oversee its district energy utility systems.

District energy systems like LIEC provide more efficient ways of heating and cooling buildings, as opposed to buildings and apartments having their independent, inefficient systems. Along with the efficiencies of a large, centralized, utility-based system, the heating and cooling needs of buildings carry lower operating costs and lower emissions from low-carbon energy production, such as the use of geoexchange systems or recapturing heat from sewers.

The central energy plants of the district energy systems are connected to the buildings through a system of underground pipes.

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The new federal financing for LIEC will specifically go towards the expansion of the City Centre District Energy Utility (CCDEU), enabling the expansion to over 170 new residential and mixed-use commercial development sites in the City Centre area by 2050.

Over the next 30 years, the amount of floor area connected to this district energy system will grow 10 times to 50 million square feet. Some of the largest future developments within the City Centre service area include the mixed-use redevelopments of CF Richmond Centre and Lansdowne Centre.

The CCDEU will recover heat from Metro Vancouver Regional District’s Gilbert Road trunk sewer.

lulu island energy city centre district energy utility ccdeu richmond map

Map of Lulu Island Energy’s existing district energy systems within Richmond, and the area of coverage of the future City Centre District Energy Utility (CCDEU). (Lulu Island Energy)

A number of recently constructed or underway sizeable building developments within the City Centre have small low-carbon energy plants on-site. In the future, when the CCDEU comes online, these small plants will be connected to the large network to increase the efficiency of the complete system. Some buildings also have mechanical systems that have been designed to easily connect to the future CCDEU.

“The benefits of this expansion will be realized not only by the residents and businesses connected to the utility, but the entire community as it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated one million tonnes when completed,” said Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie in a statement.

“District energy is a key pillar for achieving Richmond’s short- and long-term community greenhouse gas emission reduction goals as well as the delivery of efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly energy for the community.”

LIEC currently has two district energy systems — the 2012-opened Alexandra District Energy Utility serving 2,200 homes, 12 buildings, and 2.3 million sq ft, including the Walmart, and the 2014-opened Oval Village District Energy Utility for the area around Richmond Olympic Oval, serving 2.9 million sq ft across 11 buildings. At full build-out in 2029, the Oval utility’s service area is estimated to reach 6.4 million sq ft of floor space.

“We are thrilled to be building upon the success of the Oval Village District Energy Utility project and our partnership with Lulu Island Energy Company which has spanned nearly a decade,” said Lisa Sparrow, the president and CEO of Corix Infrastructure, which is LIEC’s partner for designing, building, operating, and maintaining its systems.

“The closing of the City Centre District Energy Utility project marks a major achievement in demonstrating how public-private partnerships can be used as an effective tool in leveraging financing and transformational strategies to deliver affordable, low-carbon infrastructure for consumers.”

Other examples of major district energy systems in Metro Vancouver include Creative Energy, which uses a central steam plant located next to BC Place Stadium to fulfill the heating needs of over 200 buildings across the downtown Vancouver peninsula, totalling 45 million sq ft of floor area. Future redevelopment of the central steam plant site to include an office tower will incorporate a replacement low-emission plant.

Last week, Creative Energy and the Squamish First Nation also announced Senakw’s 3.8 million sq ft of floor area will have heating provided by an on-site district energy system, with the potential to expand in the future to other buildings in the area. It will recover heat from the regional district’s trunk sewer crossing through the site.

Earlier this year, the regional district and the City of New Westminster announced a partnership to build a district energy system for the Sapperton area, which will serve the growing number of building developments and the Royal Columbian Hospital expansion.

Another major partnership announced by the regional district earlier in 2022 is a project to build underground pipes that bring heat from the region’s garbage incinerator facility in South Burnaby to the district energy system serving River District in the East Fraser Lands, located about 4 km away.

The buildings of the University of British Columbia campus are also heated by a central steam plant.

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