Enwave

Enwave Energy Corporation is a Canadian energy company headquartered in Toronto that provides sustainable district energy solutions including heating, cooling, hot water, combined heat and power, geoexchange, energy storage, sewer heat, waste-to-energy, biomass, solar energy systems. It is one of the largest district energy systems in North America and has been referred as the leading energy district system providing its services for over three decades across Canadian cities including Toronto, London, Charlottetown, Windsor, and Markham. With the help of proven, sustainable technologies, Enwave Energy Corporation has built its reputation on solving the cooling, heating and energy needs of over 700 customers including commercial properties, single- and multi-family homes, hospitals, data centers, educational centers, and mixed use developments.

Being a fully integrated district energy services provider, the company’s interconnected systems within each city generates, stores, and shares different forms of energy, delivering the benefits of scale, reliability, and sustainability to communities.

History

The company was originally established as the Toronto Hospitals Steam Corporation in 1969 to provide heating services for the Toronto General Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, New Mount Sinai Hospital and Women's College Hospital, and later provided these services to other medical institutions, the University of Toronto and the provincial government. It was renamed as the Toronto District Heating Corporation in 1980, at which time it acquired the steam utility that was also being operated by Toronto Hydro.

The corporation was privatized in 1998, with shares going to the Province, the City of Toronto government, the University of Toronto and the four founding hospitals. The corporation was renamed as Enwave in 1999. Over time, only two shareholders remained: the City with 43%, and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System with 57%.

On October 2, 2012, Toronto City Council voted to sell its 43% stake in Enwave. This followed an announcement that Brookfield Asset Management acquiring the entire company through a partnership.

On June 7, 2021, Enwave’s new owners, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and IFM Investors invested in Enwave as a platform to meet the growing demand for low-carbon energy solutions across North America.

Notable projects

Deep Lake Water Cooling System

Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) is the world's largest lake-powered cooling system. DLWC harnesses the cold temperature at the bottom of Lake Ontario to cool hospitals, data centers, educational campuses, government buildings, commercial and residential buildings. Some customers include Toronto-Dominion Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, RBC Centre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Scotiabank Arena.

It utilizes three large pipes have been run 5 kilometers (3 miles) into Lake Ontario, to a depth of 83 meters. The water at that depth is a constant 4°C, its temperature protected by a layer of water above it, called a thermocline. The water is piped to a filtration plant and then to a heat-transfer station on the lakeside. Here the chill is “transferred” to another closed loop, consisting of smaller pipes that supply the towers of the city's financial district. Built at a cost of C$230m ($200m) over four years, the system is run by the Enwave Energy Corporation.

The cooling system is a clean, renewable, and reliable energy source. Compared to traditional air-conditioning, Deep Lake Water Cooling reduces electricity use by 75%, and will eliminate 40,000 tones of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 8,000 cars off the streets.

Enwave draws cold water (4°C/39°F) from a depth of 83 meters (272 ft.) below the surface of Lake Ontario. Cold lake water is pumped through the source side of heat exchangers situated at Toronto's John Street Pumping Station while a glycol and water mixture is circulated through the load circuit of the heat exchanger, allowing for a net energy transfer from the water/glycol mixture to the lake water. The chiller glycol mixture is then circulated using pumps throughout fan-coil units installed in high-rise properties throughout the region served by Enwave in Downtown Toronto where is absorbs energy and repeats the cycle to provide cooling and dehumidification. This system is advantageous since it reduces, or even completely eradicates chiller usage during summer months and shoulder seasons, reducing energy usage, as well as minimizing the number of evaporative cooling towers from operating, which are susceptible to becoming breeding grounds for Legionella pneumophila.

This system was officially launched on August 17, 2004 at Steam Whistle Brewing, one of Enwave's customers. In support of Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC), the launch was attended by actor and renewable energy activist Alec Baldwin, Ontario Minister of Energy Dwight Duncan, Canadian Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Joe Volpe, and Toronto Deputy Mayor Sandra Bussin, among other business leaders and government officials. The launch coincided with the anniversary of the 2003 blackout.

As the largest system of its kind, DLWC connects multiple buildings on the same network of infrastructure to leverage economies of scale – a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning and easier for buildings to implement than complex retrofits.

DLWC Expansion

In 2019, Enwave announced a C$100 million system expansion with C$10 million in federal funding from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s Low Carbon Economy Challenge.

The expansion of the DLWC supply could reduce demand on the electricity grid during peak times by up to 0.5kW per ton of cooling load delivered, resulting in up to 70% peak demand savings in electricity compared to a mechanical chiller plant. The expansion will increase the capacity of the District Heat Recovery System, which produces up to 93% less carbon emissions compared to traditional heating technology, reducing the strain on local electricity and water systems.

London CHP II

Enwave’s London Energy Plant has 6 miles (10 kilometers) of steam pipes, 1.85 miles (3 kilometers) of chilled water pipes and has recently invested $50M to supply power to the provincial electricity grid through London’s local grid.

In 2019, the Province of Ontario funded the system to expand and include an additional combined heat and power (CHP) system, 17 MW gas turbine, 4 MW condensing steam turbine, 1,451 metric tons of electric chillers. London Energy Plant now serves 60 customers, including St. Joseph's Health Care London.

The Well

The Well is a mixed-use development featuring more than 3 million square feet of retail, office and residential space. Enwave designed and installed a new state-of-the-art thermal storage facility underneath The Well, consisting of a large temperature-controlled tank. The tank is fed by the DLWC system and has the capacity to hold 2 million gallons (7.6 million liters) of water. As a thermal “battery,” the system can store energy at night during off-peak times, easing strain on the electricity grid and reducing costs. The system is efficient, resilient, and, with greater capacity, can now supply low-carbon heating and cooling to an additional 17 million square feet of space.

Prince Edward Island

With Federal support, Enwave is pursuing a project on Prince Edward Island which will divert an additional 23,000 tones of waste from landfill to generate energy, thus reducing harmful methane emissions. The federal government is contributing $3.5 million through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s Low Carbon Economy Challenge to upgrade and expand the 35-year-old waste-to-energy system in Charlottetown. The upgrade will include a larger furnace, the addition of a heat recovery boiler and air pollution controls.

Through the life of the project it could, on average, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 75,000 tones a year.

Springwater Community – Single-Family Home Geoexchange Development with Mattamy Homes

Mattamy’s Springwater community is a 300+home community in the vibrant city of Markham, Ontario, which will use a district geoexchange system – the largest of its type currently proposed in Canada. As one of the newest communities in Markham, Springwater provides residents with living spaces that are outfitted with leading-edge low-carbon technology. With this energy solution, there will be zero direct fossil fuels used for heating the homes resulting in up to 75% reduction in carbon emissions compared to typical home with a natural gas furnace.

Sustainability

Enwave also helped solidify LEED certification applications for its customers. Enwave customers One York Street in Toronto achieved LEED Platinum certification, and in Chicago Aon Center holds a LEED Silver certification.

The United Nations initiative called “United 4 Sustainable Smart Cities” published a study titled “Deep Lake Water Cooling: its origins and the next evolution” about Enwave's DLWC system. The study speaks of the origins of Deep Lake Water Cooling, Enwave's current impact, plans for a 4th intake, integration of thermal storage at The Well, and how Enwave is integrating heat pumps to create a community energy sharing network at scale to provide resilient, low carbon heating and cooling.

See also

*District heating

References

External links

{{Commons category, Enwave Energy
City of Toronto: Environmental initiatives - deep lake water cooling

Electric power companies of Canada
Cooling technology
OMERS
Municipal government of Toronto
Brookfield Asset Management

de:Deep Lake Water Cooling