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The federal government has thrown cold water on the city's plan to connect 13 facilities, including Ruth Inch Memorial Pool, by a district heating system after rejecting its request for up to $12.5 million to help fund the project. - NNSL file photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The federal government has shot down a request from city hall for up to $12.5 million in funding for a smaller scale district energy system to heat city-owned facilities only.

This is just the latest bad news to add to a long list of troubles the city has had trying to get some type of district energy system off the ground, starting with plans to borrow up to $49 million toward a district energy plan partly powered with geothermal heat from Con Mine, which voters rejected in a referendum in March 2011.

Mayor Mark Heyck announced last December that the geothermal plan, which would've heated 39 downtown buildings connected by buried steam pipes to a central boiler system, was being scaled back in favour of a new plan that would heat 13 city facilities, including the Multiplex and Ruth Inch Memorial Pool. Council were told this plan would require no borrowing and would coincide with the replacement of corrugated water and sewer pipes along Franklin Avenue in 2014 to save money.

The city was notified in a letter Jan. 14 from Natural Resources Canada, however, that its proposal had been rejected because it exceeded the maximum 75 per cent in direct government funding.

Mayor Mark Heyck said despite the latest setback the city remains optimistic a new, albeit even more scaled back project,will be devised this year, perhaps for only two or three buildings.

"There are different models that other communities have used for district energy," said Heyck.

"Some are larger than others and some have taken a more nodal approach where they will start with two or three buildings and branch out over time. "

City energy co-ordinator Remi Gervais said a feasibility study is expected to come before council March 31 that will lay out potential technologies that could make a district energy system in the city work.

"Perhaps we will have to go back to the drawing board for something smaller and start out with the Fieldhouse and Multiplex and public works garage," said Heyck. "All of that will be subject to approval by council and would require a budget allocation in a future year.

"We are fairly optimistic of using waste biomass from the landfill and diverting material from the landfill and using it as a fuel source. And the concept of co-generation where we are not only producing heat but power as well as that is where you can see some cost savings."

City councillor Dan Wong, who is the council representative on the community energy planning committee, expressed some frustration with the federal government's rejection, but said there is still a lot of work to do by his committee to bring another proposal forward to council.

"As a project proponent, there was a reason why we spent a lot of time putting the application in," he said.

"We didn't expect to be denied and (Natural Resources Canada) all along knew what our proposal was. They knew we weren't going to take a loan out and knew that we weren't going to have private partners. We hear back almost immediately after submitting the application that it has been denied."

Wong said there might not be as pressing a need to connect buildings such as the pool, curling club and hockey rink via a central boiler system because they are already heated by a wood pellets.

"If you run a line from the Fieldhouse to the swimming pool, that is quite a distance and it is much more feasible with the Fieldhouse and the garage and all those which are on diesel," he said.

"Ninety-five to 99 per cent of the heat load off those three buildings is off diesel, so that is an ideal place to put some sort of a biomass boiler. We have been doing some research on using cardboard and wastewood to fuel that."

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