Prince George Community Energy Project
Type of initiative
FCM Green Municipal Fund - Capital Project
Sector
Energy
Project value$14,200,000
Project Type
Capital Project
Sub Sector
District Energy – Biomass
Grant amount$530,000
Program type
GMF
Municipality
City of Prince George, BC
Loan amount$4,000,000
Status
Fully Disbursed
Population
76,708
Project timeline
2011 - 2012
Project number
9146
Description
The City of Prince George will locate a new hot water district energy system (DES) within the City. It will include up to 21 energy transfer stations (located inside each of the customer buildings), a distribution pipe system (including 4,655 metres of buried supply and return pipe) and the energy source - a biomass-fuelled Community Energy Centre. Six buildings and the hospital will be connected to the DES in Phase 1. Phase 2 will target mostly private buildings. Approximately 80 per cent of the energy supplied to customers by the DES will be derived from a boiler fuelled by wood residue (hog fuel) from local mills within the immediate Prince George area. On an annual basis, the total thermal energy supplied to customers will be approximately 28,000 MWh, displacing approximately 168,000 GJ of natural gas that would be consumed by the buildings otherwise for space heating and domestic hot water. Also, there will be an incremental reduction of approximately 141 MWh per year of grid-supplied electricity that is currently required to run the building boilers.
Project results
- 1820 tonnes of GHG emissions avoided
- 36400 GJ of energy savings per year
Environmental outcomes
- Reduced energy use
- Reduced or avoided GHG emissions
- Improved waste management
- Reduced hazardous residuals from water treatment
Social outcomes
- Protection/improvement of public human health
- Improved service delivery and/or level or service
- Greater civic pride and ownership
- Improved public education or awareness
- Development of local programs
Economic outcomes
- Reduced maintenance costs
- Increased service life
- Innovative financing
- Increased job creation or retention
- Lower taxes and fees
- Improved district land value
- Local business development or local economy stimulus
- Use of feasibility tools
- Improved demand management
Lessons learned
- Project planning and parameters
- Stakeholder and community engagement
- Council support/buy-in
- Communication & coordination
- Data and reporting
- Resources
- External factors
- Technical – Project specific
Applicant
City of Prince George, BC