Toronto Deep Lake Cooling System Expands to 40 More Buildings

The Toronto company that uses chilled water from the depths of Lake Ontario to cool hospitals, hotels, and residences downtown is expanding its pipeline network to boost its reach.

Enwave Energy Corporation has commissioned a fourth intake pipeline for its deep lake water cooling (DLWC) system, which has been operating for 20 years, cools more than 100 buildings in Toronto, and is already the largest in the world, reports CBC News.

Its client base also includes data centres, shopping centres, and large entertainment venues and arenas in the city.

“By expanding the DLWC, Enwave is serving more people and cooling more buildings—while reducing emissions and helping us reach our climate goals,” said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow .

District energy systems like Enwave’s DLWC distribute thermal energy to multiple buildings in a given area, offering them the energy and cost benefits of a single, centralized facility. Enwave runs pipes five kilometres into Lake Ontario, drawing cold water to a central station where heat exchangers transfer heat, or coolness, between water loops at each customer site.

The system has displaced enough energy usage to save about 129,360 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) over 20 years, said Enwave CEO Carlyle Coutinho.

The company began expanding the system in 2021. Enwave says the fourth expansion will add 18 megawatts of capacity, bringing total baseload capacity to 60 megawatts. It will allow the system to accommodate another 40 buildings and save another 33,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years.

Coutinho told Sustainable Biz the expansion “give(s) us more capacity to be able to expand our system where density counts.”

The expansion is supported by a C$10-million grant  from Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund and a $600-million loan commitment from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Enwave is also adding a new green heat system to its Pearl Street Energy Centre—which facilitates the DLWC system—to recapture heat from wastewater.

The company has gained international attention for its DLWC system, which was included as a case study in a United Nations guide to circular cities.

Enwave also has a district energy system in London, Ontario, where it recently moved to decommission an underground line that delivers steam heat to 17 downtown buildings. Enwave says the decision was based on safety and cost concerns. Affected buildings were given one year’s notice in May, leaving some in a rush to install their own heating systems that, without the scale of the district ownership model, are proving to be a steep expense, reports the London Free Press.

During a meeting of the city’s corporate services committee, where members voted to spend $810,000 for a new heating system in one of the buildings, Mayor Josh Morgan said the district energy model “works great until something like this happens.” Morgan suggested municipalities look at pushing the province to step up regulation of such systems, reports CBC News.