Press Release
April 13, 2017
The City of Richmond, BC, the owner of the Alexandra District Energy Utility (ADEU), is excited to share the news of the recent ADEU asset transfer to Lulu Island Energy Company (LIEC).
LIEC is a wholly-owned municipal corporation, established to manage district energy utility systems in the City of Richmond. Incorporated in August 2013, LIEC is committed to excellence in sustainable energy utility development, management and operations as Richmond’s solution to providing clean, efficient energy for now and the future.
On December 31, 2016, the operations of the Alexandra District Energy Utility were transferred to Lulu Island Energy Company. The completion of the district energy assets transfer to LIEC was the final step towards Richmond City Council’s goal of assigning LIEC the function of providing current and future district energy services on behalf of the City. The transfer is important in order to support the ongoing successful establishment of LIEC, and to maintain the highest level of service for the growing customer base. The transfer will ensure that connected customers will continue to receive the many benefits of district energy, including improved efficiency and reliability, environmental benefits and comfort and convenience in the long term.
Under LIEC management, the ADEU has joined the Oval Village District Energy Utility (OVDEU). The OVDEU is another district energy system in Richmond, BC, Canada, which serves new mixed-use communities adjacent to the Richmond Olympic Oval with heat and domestic hot water. The OVDEU is being developed and constructed under a 30-year concession agreement with the private utility company, Corix Utilities.
During the concession period, Corix Utilities designs, builds, finances and operates the OVDEU and supplies energy services to LIEC. The first phase of the OVDEU is currently served with 11 MWth of plant capacity using natural gas boilers to provide heat. When enough buildings are connected to the system, a permanent energy centre will be built which will produce low carbon energy, currently planned to be extracted from the sanitary force main sewer. The expectation is that this low carbon energy will provide the majority of heat needs in any given year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%.
Overall, LIEC provides energy to almost 2 million square feet of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. This has eliminated 1,250 tonnes of GHG emissions in the community to date. It is estimated that at full build out of the current service areas, the OVDEU and ADEU will reduce up to 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, which is equivalent to removing approximately 2,000 cars from the road each year. The LIEC remains adaptable to future technologies and sustainable energy sources, such as ground source heat, ground water heat, sewer heat and solar all serving to reduce the Richmond’s dependency on non-renewable energy.
Press Contact
Kristina Nish
Corporate Support, Sustainability & District Energy
City of Richmond
6911 No. 3 Road
Richmond, BC V6Y 2C1
604.276.4166
knishi@richmond.ca
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