Grant: CCI Applied Research and Development Grants

Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE) is an entity wholly owned by the City of Hamilton, providing facilities-based integrated utility solutions across both the energy and telecommunication sectors. They are a local leader in high-efficiency, low-carbon building heating and cooling solutions, operating Hamilton’s downtown district energy network servicing more than 2 million square feet of building space, a low-carbon building heating/cooling system at McMaster Innovation Park, and several renewable energy installations. The U.S.A. Department of Energy estimates that 20-40% of all energy inputs into industrial applications are lost to process waste. In support of the global drive to reduce energy use, and carbon emissions, industrial actors are increasingly viewing waste heat as a commodifiable resource. Global research points to industrial waste heat as a sustainable, low-carbon pathway to providing utility solutions, yet the complexity of the utility landscape presents challenges to implementation from a regulatory and infrastructure standpoint. HCE has an organizational aspiration to facilitate and operate a “thermal energy corridor” within Hamilton’s Bayfront Industrial Area, which will capture waste heat from industrial operations for redistribution and use for novel and sustainable applications such as building indoor heating. The Bayfront Industrial Area supports over 19,700 jobs with local industry producing enough waste thermal energy to heat over 45,000 homes annually. However, the intermittent nature of industrial activities creates variability within the supply-side of the thermal network, while seasonality creates variation in building space heating demand. HCE requires assistance in completing a techno-economic analysis of thermal energy storage (TES) solutions with the goal of identifying, and evaluating the feasibility of deployment in Hamilton’s Bayfront Industrial Area. Mohawk College’s Centre for Climate Change Management (CCCM) will work with HCE to complete a suite of analysis on TES technologies. The CCCM’s research team has expertise in vetting decarbonization solutions as well a proficiency in carbon accounting, carbon pricing, carbon policy implications, and stakeholder relations. Together, the CCCM and HCE will collaborate to gather, leverage, and analyze industrial data to produce recommendations on the technical and economic feasibility of operationalization of TES technologies within Hamilton’s Bayfront Industrial Area.