Toronto’s deep water cooling system expands

Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system is being extended north from Wellington Street up to Queen’s Park.
Enwave, the utility partly owned by the city, recently built the system to draw icy water from the depths of Lake Ontario to cool buildings in the downtown area. It is used to cool facilities nearer to the waterfront, such as the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and the Toronto-Dominion Centre. Now, the utility has announced that it has an agreement with the Government of Ontario to use the system to air-condition the legislature and other provincial government buildings. Construction on the $20-million pipe extension to the legislature was due to start in May. In order to justify the cost of the construction, which will be trenchless, Enwave needs to have two more major clients along the route.
The environmentally friendly deep lake cooling source is estimated to save 90% of electricity. It uses cold water taken in at 4 degrees C which is subsequently sent through a closed loop system that transfers heat with the city’s water supply.
The Mitchell Partnership, Gryphon International Engineering Services and Earth Tech were were consultants to Enwave in the initial project.
Enwave is partly owned by the city of Toronto and partly owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
For a full description of the initial project see www.canadianconsultingengineer.com, Print Edition, Archives, December 2001.