Bird, Noventa form alliance to build wastewater energy transfer projects
Bird Construction has entered into an agreement with renewable-energy company Noventa Energy Partners, to jointly pursue opportunities for wastewater energy transfer (WET) projects across Canada—with Bird acting as the exclusive constructor.
The projects will deploy the Huber ThermWin System, for which Noventa Energy is the exclusive distributor in Canada and the United States. The companies estimate the size of the market for such work to be in the range of $500 million and 150MW of energy.
Bird made the announcement on October 25. It builds on the financial close of the recently announced $43-million Toronto Western Hospital WET project, which is the world's largest raw wastewater energy transfer project.
Once complete, the project will provide more than 19MW of low-carbon thermal energy to the hospital facility, which is approximately 90 percent of the hospital's heating and cooling requirements.
Over the next 30 years, the hospital will see a cumulative reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 250,000 tonnes —displacing 1.35 million cubic meters of natural gas, 143,000 megawatt hours of electricity consumption, and 1.4 million cubic meters in water usage, the equivalent of 560 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The milestone project for Toronto Western Hospital encompasses the construction of an underground vault which will house 16 Huber wastewater heat exchangers and five chiller/heat pumps, the excavation of a 38-metre-deep wet well that will be connected to the sewer main, and the retrofit of the hospital's existing heating steam system to a low-temperature, hot water system and provision of chilled water cooling.
The Toronto Western project received $19 million in funding from the Canada Infrastructure Back last week, as well as support from VanCity Community Investment Bank, and a grant from Canada's $2-billion Low Carbon Economy Fund, which supports clean growth and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
"Wastewater is a relatively untapped renewable energy source that is underutilized in North America, and working closely with our partner, we are excited to bring this valuable, sustainable solution to institutions across Canada," said Bird President and CEO Teri McKibbon. "I am particularly proud of Bird's participation in this inaugural project, and recognize the substantial opportunity created through the Alliance Agreement, as well as the positive alignment of this innovation with a lower carbon future."
Featured image: The Toronto Western WET project will provide more than 19MW of low-carbon thermal energy to the hospital facility. (Toronto Western Hospital)