Taking stock: What’s the potential for utility-scale thermal energy networks in Ontario?

To decarbonize the province’s existing building stock, it will be essential to implement low-carbon heating and cooling solutions. In this special report, we look at the role utility deployment of thermal energy networks can play.

Addressing heating and cooling is a critical part of decarbonizing the existing building stock in Ontario. The building sector is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the province, after transportation and manufacturing. And more than 70 percent of its greenhouse emissions come from the use of natural gas for space and water heating and use in cooking appliances. Continued reliance on fossil fuels in our buildings will not only set us back on our national climate targets, but it will also make reaching net zero more expensive.

Thermal energy networks (TENs) could offer a systemic and affordable solution. These shared networks are made up of underground pipes that transfer heat in and out of buildings equipped with heat pumps. These systems could be deployed at a neighbourhood level to provide an efficient, clean and resilient form of heating and cooling buildings, while also taking some of the pressure off the electric grid.

To explore the potential of utility deployment of TENs, MaRS established the Road-Mapping Initiative for Networked Geothermal (RING). This 18-member working group of industry experts came together to establish what it would take to apply this approach to retrofit mixed-use neighbourhoods in high-density cities across the province.

The working group drew on learnings from recent retrofit projects in the United States, such as Eversource Energy’s networked geothermal pilot project in Framingham, Mass. The working group identified six core recommendations that could enable strategic, coordinated and scaled implementations of utility TENs across Ontario over the next 25 years:

1. Develop the ecosystem for utility TENs
2. Lead research and data collection
3. Enact policies and regulations
4. Develop long-term utility TENs business model
5. Facilitate integrated planning
6. Advance TENs technology

Download the full report