Lake water to cool Ontario Legislature

Enwave Energy Corp. will use cold lake water to air-condition 10 Ontario government buildings — including the Legislature — which house 5,500 civil servants, politicians and aides.

The deal allows Enwave to expand beyond its original plan to serve the downtown financial district.

Enwave president Dennis Fotinos called the deal "a catalyst that (has) opened up a huge opportunity for us.''

"(It's) justified us building a line up Bay St."

The company, jointly owned by the City of Toronto and the OMERS pension fund, is investing more than $170 million in its Deep Lake Water Cooling Project.

Pipes 83 metres down in Lake Ontario bring ice-cold water to a lakefront transfer station, where it's used to cool water in a separate pipe network that flows into the air conditioning systems of major buildings.

Enwave will spend an extra $20 million to extend its pipes along Bay St. from Wellington St. up to Queen's Park, using a boring machine to dig the tunnel, Fotinos explained. The expansion allows Enwave to look for new customers along the route.

The extra cost will be justified if Enwave can sign up just two major clients in addition to the 2.3 million-square-foot Queen's Park complex, Fotinos said.

He said Ryerson University is close to signing a deal to supply its new business school, now going up at Bay and Dundas Sts. The adjacent Marriott hotel has expressed interest, as has the College Park complex farther north.

University Ave. hospitals are also potential customers.

Ironically, while the city has invested $75 million for a 43 per cent stake in Enwave, city hall won't be a customer; its conventional cooling system was recently refurbished. However, Fotinos said, the city-owned Metro Hall at King and John Sts. will be connected.

Up at Queen's Park, the McGuinty government is touting the deal, which will see the new cooling system up and running by 2007, as a major step toward its goal of cutting electricity use in government buildings by 10 per cent.

The Queen's Park complex will save enough juice to power 1,000 homes, Management Board chair Gerry Phillips told the Legislature.

Fotinos said Enwave is currently pitching about 60 proposals to supply cold water, both for new projects and existing buildings whose conventional, electricity-draining chillers are worn out.

It's become a much easier sell now that building owners and managers have become familiar with deep lake water cooling, he said.

"It was once a push to get in the door. Now we're the default... any time a building is looking to change their chillers or a new building is being constructed. We're getting the phone call and being invited to bid."

The cooling project is designed to save a total of 100 megawatts: the amount of electricity needed to power 20,000 air-conditioned homes.