Ottawa Heating and Cooling Systems

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Opportunity Currently Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) owns and operates seven centrally located power plants that provide heating and air conditioning to more than 100 office buildings in Ottawa and Gatineau. PWGCS provides enough energy to heat and cool 28,000 homes and distribute it through five networks made up of 12 kilometers of tunnels and 40 kilometers of pipeline. Some of this energy infrastructure is nearly a century old and most is nearing the end of its useful life. Major investments will be necessary to modernize it, improve its energy efficiency and reduce its environmental impact. The Government of Canada is looking for options to outsource development and service provision of heating, cooling and power distribution in the National Capital Region. The project's request for qualifications was launched in August 2017 that sought the provision of 80 federal buildings as well as the cooling services for 67 of them. A May 2016 House of Commons committee meeting estimated the cost to update 100 buildings in the national capital region to be CAD 1.2bn (USD 960m). Challenges Many of the buildings currently served by PWGSC are mission-critical to the functioning of government. As such loss or interruption of service, even for short periods, is unacceptable and the private partner must meet strict security requirements. Results  The project would improve energy and environmental efficiency at over 100 properties in the National Capital Area (Ottawa) which are currently served by the Cliff Distribution Network: three plants serving over 50 buildings in downtown Ottawa); Tunney’s Pasture (serving 18 buildings in Tunney’s Pasture Campus); Confederation Heights (serves 15 buildings located in the Confederation Heights Campus at Heron Road and Riverside Drive); Booth Street Complex (serves 11 buildings located in the NRCan Campus on Booth Street); and RCMP Headquarters (serves four buildings located at the RCMP Headquarters on the Vanier Parkway.

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