District energy system is viable for city centre
City of Surrey, BC
ENERGY
Surrey Civic Centre District Energy Feasibility Study
The City of Surrey studied the feasibility of a district energy system (DES) for its new civic centre and its growing central business area. A DES distributes heating and cooling to a number of buildings from a central source. The study team decided that a geothermal system could serve the buildings in the civic centre complex. For the next phase of downtown development, the team recommended a gas-fired boiler plant. Phase 3 would replace the gas-fired system with a large biomass-fueled plant. The DES will be operated by Surrey City Energy, a municipally-owned utility created in January 2011.
Results
| Environmental | Economic | Social |
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Challenges
- Designing a heating and cooling system to serve up to 800,000 square metres by 2030
- Meeting the renewable energy requirement of the City's sustainability charter
- Expanding the district energy system through three phases of downtown development
- Developing a customer base that will follow the system from natural gas to a low-carbon renewable fuel source
Lessons learned
- Consider the needs of future customers when planning a district energy system.
- Examine existing systems in other cities to gain a full appreciation of technologies and their benefits.
- Create a project team with technical, financial and regulatory expertise.
Partners and Collaborators
- City of Surrey, BC
- FCM's Green Municipal Fund
- Kerr Wood Leidal
- Compass Resource Management
- Hemmera
- Wellons Canada
Project Contact
Jason Owen
Acting Manager District Energy Section
City of Surrey, BC
T. 604-591-4742
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
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