HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-15-072 - Authorization to Sign Community Energy Investment Strategy
REPORT TO: Council
DATE OF MEETING: August 24, 2015
SUBMITTED BY: Alain Pinard, Director of Planning
PREPARED BY: Carrie Musselman, Senior Environmental Planner,
519-741-2200 x 7068
Brandon Sloan, Manager, Long Range & Policy Planning
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All
th
DATE OF REPORT: August 12, 2015
REPORT NO.: CSD-15-072
SUBJECT: Authorization toSign Collaborative Agreement
Community Energy Investment Strategy
___________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to sign a collaborative agreement with the
Region of Waterloo, City of Waterloo, City of Cambridge and all of the local
utilities regarding the preparation of a Community Energy Investment Strategy,
subject to the satisfaction of Legal Services.
BACKGROUND:
Recently, Mayor Vrbanovic joined municipal, provincial, and state leaders to sign a
Climate Action Statement at the Climate Summit of the Americas. The City of Kitchener
continues to actively pursue greenhouse gas reductions through the Community
Climate Action Plan and numerous corporate initiatives. One of the next steps is to
focus specifically on how energy is used, shared and invested in our community. The
City has identified the need to conduct community energy planning for a number of
years – but we cannot do it alone.
Over the past several months, a collaborative group has formed that includes local
municipalities, the Region of Waterloo, the local utilities, and connections with the
University of Waterloo and local environmental non-profits. The group has received a
grant from the Province of Ontario to prepare a Community Energy Investment Strategy.
In order to proceed, a collaborative agreement must be signed. The time is now to
pursue this endeavour.
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
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REPORT:
Community energy planning focuses on addressing the challenges and identifying the
opportunities related to meeting local energy needs in a reliable and cost-effective
manner. The big picture perspective is that understanding our energy usage and
investing in its optimization can enhance economic prosperity, promote more
sustainable communities and help mitigate and adapt to climate change. It is also
important for communities in Ontario to undertake energy planning in order to:
respond to direction from the provincial government to engage stakeholders
among different sectors within growing urban areas to coordinate regional energy
planning efforts to become more energy self-sufficient;
advance local economic development by attracting green tech/energy
businesses, stimulating private and public investment in new innovative energy
projects, job creation and reducing local business and residents’ expenditures on
energy;
collaborate with local energy distributors to optimize local programs that fulfill
provincially-mandated Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) targets;
integrate regional-scale energy management with land use planning and
environmental policies; and
achieve policies identified in the Provincial Policy Statement and the Province’s
Growth Plan related to land-use, energy and climate change.
Across Canada, 170 Community Energy Plans have been developed. In Ontario, this
includes communities such as Barrie, Guelph, London, Markham, Oakville and Toronto,
with several more in progress.
The majority of Community Energy Plans have been developed in the past five years.
Most are driven by concerns about rising energy costs, external influences on prices,
greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and extreme weather impacts on energy
infrastructure. Another important driver for community-scale energy planning is the
recognition that it is a versatile tool to help capitalize on significant opportunities for local
economic development.
Collaborative Approach in Waterloo Region
Over the past 9 months, the Region of Waterloo hosted meetings to discuss community
energy planning within our area. The meetings included members of:
City of Cambridge Cambridge and North Dumfries
Hydro
City of Kitchener
Union Gas Limited
City of Waterloo
Kitchener Utilities
University of Waterloo
Waterloo North Hydro Inc.
Sustainable Waterloo Region
Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc.
REEP Green Solutions
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The group discussed how development of the strategy could be tailored to help guide
Waterloo Region to optimize our energy resources; improve energy security and
stability for our businesses and residents; and achieve several economic development
objectives. A strategy could also help complement our collective long-term municipal
land use and infrastructure master plans and would also provide new, needed actions to
help meet locally established greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow (QUEST), a national non-profit specializing
in integrated community energy solutions, facilitated the initial group discussion and
provided insightful commentary that helped lead local partners to develop a funding
proposal to the provincial ministry. .
Funding Application
A funding application was submitted to the Ministry of Energy by the Region with letters
of support from the three Cities and the five utility companies serving the geographic
area of Waterloo Region (the collaborative organizations). Late in May 2015, the Region
was notified that the application for maximum funding was approved (up to 50% of the
project or a maximum of $90,000). An agreement with Ontario Ministry of Energy, which
outlines the terms of reference for the provision of grant funding for this project, must be
signed by the Region to initiate the strategy development process. In turn, an
agreement amongst the local funding and participatory partners with the Region is
required. Key components of the agreement are to commit our financial support and to
actively participate. The primary purpose of the recommendation of this report is to
complete the authorization to sign an agreement that meets the satisfaction of Legal
Services so that the project can begin. Most other partners have, or are in the process,
of signing.
Preparation of the Community Energy Investment Strategy
As the agreements are being completed, a Request for Proposals is under preparation.
The collaborative group will need to retain an experienced consultant to assist with the
detailed technical aspects of this project along with the stakeholder engagement.
Establishment of project teams and final work plans will be completed over the summer.
The project is expected to take approximately two years to complete. Once the strategy
is prepared, the draft document and recommendations will be presented to Regional
and Area Municipal Councils for their consideration, along with the boards of local
utilities and provincial authorities as required.
It is anticipated that the Strategy may include:
identification of opportunities within the region and local municipalities where we
could save or share energy (i.e. district energy) and where we could invest in
systems that will pay off economically and environmentally for our future
generations;
a framework to evaluate current and future community energy initiatives based
on the equivalent of a triple bottom line perspective;
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an implementation plan, outlining what actions are intended to achieve the goals,
objectives and targets, including setting immediate goals (1-2 years out), short-
term goals (3-7 years out) and long-term goals (8-20 years out);
identification of costs and impacts of specific measures that could be undertaken
for specific facilities, operations, areas or sectors and timelines for
implementation;
a description of how the key objectives and initiatives of the Plan will be
incorporated/coordinated with other municipal and key stakeholder planning
processes; and
a summary of stakeholder engagement undertaken and how stakeholders will
continue to be engaged in the future.
Although we have a good history of managing and improving our energy supply, many
other locations in Ontario, Canada and the world are working on energy planning
advancements that are years ahead of us. The time is now to show what Waterloo
Region can do.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
This initiative is helping implement the community priority of ENVIRONMENT within the
City’s Strategic Plan. It is also directly aligned with Kitchener’s Strategic Plan for the
Environment (Energy theme) and would implement the City’s Official Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
Kitchener’s financial contribution to the collaborative project is $10,000 from Kitchener
Utilities and $10,000 from currently funded Planning Studies Capital accounts. This will
be leveraged through the partnership to have a total of approximately $180,000 towards
the project through contributions of the other municipal and utility partners and through
the Provincial grant which has been awarded for this work (the grant is for $90,000). .
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
INFORM – this report is intended to INFORM. It has been posted to the City’s website
with the agenda in advance of the council meeting.
REVIEWED BY: Larry G. Tansley, Assistant City Solicitor
Wally Malcolm, Kitchener Utilities
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Michael May, Deputy CAO (Community Services)
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