Pilot project: Retrofit of municipal facilities
Evaluate a retrofit solution to improve energy efficiency in a municipal building. Develop a smaller-scale version of your project in real-life conditions with a pilot project grant.
ENERGY
Funding Snapshot
Grant: Up to $500,000 to cover up to 50% of eligible costs
Municipalities and municipal partners with a population of 20,000 or under may qualify for a grant of up to 80 per cent of eligible project costs under certain conditions. Contact us to find out if your municipality is eligible.
We fund pilot projects of retrofits that improve energy efficiency by at least 30% in municipal facilities. This funding helps Canadian cities and communities of all sizes use less energy, which reduces their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improves their air quality.
Pilot projects assess solutions in real-life conditions. They evaluate either a small-scale version of a project or a full-scale, replicable version.
You can pilot a combination of energy efficient retrofits that together, reduce a municipal facility’s energy consumption by 30% (minimum of 20% through energy efficiency and maximum of 10% through on-site, renewable energy).
Municipal facilities include administration buildings, police stations and fire halls, wastewater treatment plants, etc. Most of this funding goes to projects in municipally owned buildings, but a non-municipally owned building may be eligible if it is used mostly for municipal purposes. Community buildings (e.g., libraries, recreation centres and arenas) may be eligible for funding through the Community Buildings Retrofit (CBR) program.
Your pilot should assess whether the project meets the necessary requirements (e.g., financial, technical), has a solid business case and the ability to deliver strong environmental, financial and social benefits directly to your community or through replication in other municipalities. Your project’s outcomes should help you decide whether to scale up the use of the solution you are piloting.
Examples of what you might pilot:
A combination of these retrofits:
- Upgraded building components and materials (e.g., insulation, walls, windows)
- Advanced automation and control systems
- Upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
- On-site renewable energy generation and storage (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal or geo-exchange systems)
- Fuel switching (e.g., connecting to low carbon district energy systems)
- Harvesting energy from process loads or waste (e.g., sewer heat recovery)
We will fund other innovative ideas! Contact us to ask if your idea qualifies for funding.
Notes
While we encourage you to pursue green building certifications, they are not a prerequisite for funding.
Target
Your combination of retrofits must have the potential to reduce a building’s energy use by at least 30%. A minimum of 20% must come from energy efficiency and a maximum of 10% can come from on-site, renewable energy. The 10% maximum does not apply to geothermal exchange systems. Retrofit changes must meet or exceed the national and provincial building codes (NECB 2011 or provincial derivatives).
What we’re looking to fund
FCM funds pilot projects that demonstrate most of the following characteristics:
- Transformative potential: The pilot project test solutions (e.g., knowledge, practices, technologies) that are beyond business-as-usual. The pilot project:
- Is likely to result in a project that demonstrates significant performance improvements (e.g., improved levels of service, cost savings, energy efficiency, increased resiliency, environmental protection, improved human health)
- Is audacious in that it requires a municipality to take on uncertainty over known best practices to achieve greater environmental benefits
- Is designed to build the capacity of key stakeholders (e.g., municipal staff, elected officials, local trades)
- Has the potential to generate new knowledge for the sector
- Has a high likelihood of being replicated if successful
- Significant impacts: The project has the potential, at full scale, to generate significant measurable environmental results as well as economic and social benefits.
- Strong implementation framework: The project plan is robust and includes appropriate stakeholder engagement, planning, risk management and resourcing.
How to apply
- Download and review the application guide.
- Review the list of prerequisites and required supporting documents.
- Review eligible and ineligible costs.
- Ensure you have a detailed project budget in place.
- Confirm that you’re securing other funding sources for your project:
- Sample Letter Confirming Consultation with Provincial/Territorial Government (a prerequisite for all applicants, except municipal governments in Quebec)
- Sample Letter from Confirmed Funding Sources (required for each contributing organization, including the lead municipality)
- Visit the FCM funding portal to create your profile and request a PIN to access the system. Already have an FCM funding portal profile? Skip to Step 7.
- Complete the pre-application form available on the platform.
Quebec municipalities
FCM has an agreement with Quebec's Ministre des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH) that allows the ministry to review applications to GMF before they are submitted to FCM. Quebec municipalities applying for funding from GMF must follow the process below to submit their application to MAMH.
Once you have completed all the steps in the ‘How to apply’ section, submit your application by following the steps below. Note that the content of the links is available in French only.
- Save your application form using the appropriate file name.
- Save the application form to your local device with the following filename: FMV_ "your municipality's name"_ "date" (YYMMDD). For example: FMV_TownofABC_180228.pdf
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Log in to the Portail gouvernemental des affaires municipales et régionales using your username and password. Select the program, "MAMH - Fonds municipal vert".
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Upload and submit the application form through the portal. Note this is an external site.
- Receive confirmation from MAMH.
- MAMH assesses the applications to ensure that the projects submitted do not conflict with Quebec's government policies and directives. Once the assessment has been completed, MAMH informs the applicant of their decision and sends compliant applications to GMF for review.
- MAMH requires up to 15 working days to review the application and forward it to GMF.
- Receive approval from GMF.
- GMF will inform the applicant once they receive the application from MAMH and review the submission. If the application is approved for funding, an agreement between FCM and the applicant is prepared.
Sign up for alerts whenever a new funding opportunity is added.
Get alerted anytime a new funding opportunity is added to see if you could be eligible for more funding on your projects.
Need help to see if this is the right funding for you?
Contact our Outreach team who can answer any questions you have relating to this funding opportunity.
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