Projects
North Oak Community Energy System
815,000 Sqft
Oakville, ON
Commenced in 2021
Creative Energy is developing a low-carbon solution that decarbonizes space heating and cooling for North Oak, a residential project in one of Oakville’s fastest-growing neighbourhoods, bringing one of the first geoexchange community energy systems to the Greater Toronto Area. The design utilizes geoexchange and ambient loop systems, along with heat pumps and boilers, and leverages advanced energy modeling software to create an efficient and sustainable district energy system.
on- going construction of north oak’s low carbon energy system
Construction Progress and Project Overview
North Oak will include 5 residential buildings developed over 3 phases, located at the corner of Dundas St. and Trafalgar Ave in Oakville. Phase 1 construction is on-going with two residential towers near completion. Phase 2 is currently in the design stage with construction stage starting in 2025.
Instead of conventional heating and cooling systems, that would require each building to reserve space for mechanical rooms and cooling towers, Creative Energy’s solution will use a central plant to distribute ambient water for space heating and cooling. Heating water for local domestic hot water production will also be distributed from this central plant, connecting to each building via 2 heat exchangers. The ambient distribution network will interconnect 3 geo fields, which will be constructed in tandem with the development schedule. As each phase becomes operational, another field will be added to the system, increasing the low-carbon thermal energy capacity.
The combination of the geo fields and ambient distribution will allow buildings to share energy with one another, and enable in-suite heat pumps within the building to operate reliably and efficiently. Most notably, Creative Energy’s solution will not require the use of any natural gas to provide space conditioning, as the boiler plant will be reserved for domestic hot water heating and as a back-up for the geo field. As a result, the system is expected to avoid almost 1,000 tonnes of GHG emissions a year compared to a conventional gas boiler system.
Expansion Potential
The area surrounding the development is set to be one of the fastest-growing in Oakville, if not the entire GTA. As the densification of the neighborhood increases and more residential developments are established, the system at North Oak will have the opportunity to connect additional customers, expanding the economy of scale inherent to district energy systems. Additionally, as more buildings are connected, additional low-carbon plants can be developed, further reducing the carbon footprint of Oakville’s built environment.
