Renewable energy for Edmonton’s River Crossing redevelopment

The City of Edmonton will explore a triple bottom line approach for implementation of a low-carbon district energy sharing system (DESS) as part of the redevelopment of downtown Edmonton’s River Crossing area. The DESS is to be designed to provide heating, cooling and domestic hot water to all buildings in the community. The study will look at the operating and maintenance costs of implementing the DESS as well as the social benefits of having a future-oriented sustainable community in the heart of the city. The implementation of feasible renewable energy technology is intended to be a key outcome of this study. The area to be redeveloped comprises primarily vacant lots with a combination of publicly and privately owned residential buildings. The redeveloped area will consist of mixed commercial and residential buildings, including affordable housing units. These buildings have the potential to house 2,100 residents. The City anticipates the DESS would result in at least a 40% reduction in energy consumption from the grid and a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (compared to business as usual). An anticipated 5,425,000 kWh of renewable energy generation is expected from a variety of potential systems, including geo-exchange, sewer heat recovery, renewable natural gas (combined heat and power), and biomass technologies. During the feasibility study, a financial model for the community and DESS will be developed to evaluate lifecycle, return-on-investment and payback time period. The design will take into consideration the existing site and site planning, and investigate whether neighbouring communities could be tied into the system. The outcome of this feasibility study will allow the City to make an informed decision on the further incorporation of the DESS and other renewable technology infrastructure in the River Crossing area. Feedback from the public and Indigenous communities was solicited through open houses, engagement with individual Indigenous nations, and through regular meetings with community and business advisory committees that were struck to support and advise the project team. Engagement will continue throughout the project’s phases. This initiative is informed by City of Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy and is linked to its Strategic Plan’s key goal of a climate-resilient, low-carbon future. Innovative aspect(s): • DESS implementation represents an innovative way to provide sustainable community energy systems that differ significantly from the heating, cooling and domestic hot water delivery systems traditionally applied in Edmonton, in Alberta and in Canada • The interdepartmental collaboration proposed for the study and project is an innovative approach for the City of Edmonton Replicability: • Lessons learned from this study will inform the city-wide implementation strategy for district energy (in progress) • This initiative will aim to quantify the triple bottom line benefits of district energy and spur replication for other community re-development projects in established neighbourhoods across Canada (Project description from original funding application)