Item - 2024.EP9.19

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place:

1.  Authorized Exhibition Place staff to work with City Environment and Energy Office staff to negotiate and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), including a Thermal Energy Service Agreement among Exhibition Place, City of Toronto, and Noventa Energy Partners in order for Noventa to secure Canadian Infrastructure Bank funding in the order of $1.5 Million for engineering design for the Waste Water Energy Project.

The purpose of this report is to provide a status update on the potential wastewater energy project at Exhibition Place and recommend next steps.

Sewer wastewater contains recoverable heat with the ability to displace natural gas use in buildings and therefore significantly reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, consistent with TransformTO goals.

City Council provided staff with direction to engage with Noventa Energy Partners (Noventa) on up to 9 additional projects following the work on the initial project at Dundas and Bathurst with UHN Toronto Western Hospital. Noventa is engaging potential customers/partners (multi-building campuses) around the City on these project opportunities, as they have financing from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) to support their projects.

Exhibition Place was identified as a potential opportunity given the need to replace existing aging equipment in the coming years, and City direction on working toward net-zero emissions. Exhibition Place represents an opportunity to showcase city action on net-zero at a priority location and demonstrate Toronto's leadership in the renewable energy field and as a technological innovation hub.