The City of Pickering is…

The City of Pickering is continuously exploring partnership opportunities to develop district energy. As such, we would like the Ministry to consider such opportunities within their LTEP as it can provide cost-effective heating, cooling and electricity using local energy sources. Additionally, it can reduce peak power demand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and provide backup power during emergencies resulting in increased community resiliency and energy cost savings for the Province and local municipalities.

We would like the LTEP to focus on addressing constraints within the existing distribution energy resources. For example a large portion of the City’s facilities located in south Pickering are serviced by one transformer station, the Cherrywood Transformer Station (TS). This existing TS is at capacity and will need a significant investment to be upgraded if load growth continues in the City. Distribution energy resources can address this constraint by increasing resiliency, improving reliability, improving energy security, and mitigating GHG emissions for the City.

Community energy cooperatives provide an opportunity for investors to pool resources to develop energy projects that are more cost-effective than if deployed on a smaller scale. A number of energy cooperatives exist in Ontario, but were fueled by the province’s Feed-in Tariff program, which is no longer offered. However, the cost of renewable energy has become competitive with the availability of alternatives. Working in collaboration with utilities, regulators, and system operators, there may be future opportunities for local cooperatives. We recommend that the Ministry proactively seek to implement community energy cooperatives within this plan.