This text is part of the special Energy Transition section
Demand for electricity is exploding in Quebec. Faced with this situation, Hydro-Québec even announced that it intended to double its production by 2050, which would inevitably mean the construction of new infrastructure, according to the state-owned company. How to avoid this controversial scenario? Only one option: demand must decrease.
From its offices in Laval, a company is working in precisely this direction. Fusion Énergie is dedicated to reducing the energy consumption of large buildings, such as hotels, seniors’ residences and other industrial buildings. Since 1994, the company has been betting that substantial energy savings can be obtained through a simple improvement in the management of heating equipment. And it seems to be working: its platform, deployed in 211 buildings in Quebec, frees up 11 megawatts — more than what is produced by Hydro-Québec’s smallest power plants.
“When we talk about energy efficiency, we mean that if a building is equipped with an old boiler, it must be replaced with a more efficient boiler,” illustrates the general director of Fusion Énergie Loïc Angot. What we do is optimize what is already in place. We provide a dynamic of control thanks to data. » Its approach takes advantage of “energy intelligence, which is the science of optimal use of mechanical and electrical equipment using data”.
Consume better
Who can benefit from this type of service? The general director, who has been in office for a few weeks, has big ambitions: “It has been estimated that the number of buildings to be decarbonized amounts to 35,000 buildings across Canada. We are talking about large buildings, residential towers, housing, hotels. » He excludes from his calculations single-family homes and small plexes which do not, according to him, have equipment complex enough to justify the installation of “this type of technological applications”.
Fusion Energy focuses on reducing consumption in existing buildings. But new constructions can also benefit from his expertise, believes Mr. Angot: “We carried out analyzes on three buildings built in three different periods: one from the 1980s, another from the year 2000 and the last from 2018. C It was the most recent which consumed the most. » To explain what causes this problem, the general manager offers a metaphor: “newer buildings are a bit like a Formula 1 car. The equipment is state-of-the-art, but if you ask a 14-year-old child to driving it, you won’t win a race. »
In short, whether they are recent or not, buildings often suffer from a “systemic problem, which is real-time optimization. This is what we are bringing. We know which system should be controlled, why and how.”
By car!
Added to this optimization of consumption is another string to Fusion Énergie’s bow: an energy management system for electric vehicles. “The system understands what the building consumes and distributes the power offered for recharging cars according to what is available,” summarizes Mr. Angot. A promising solution to reduce what we call “peak”, which is the times of the day when demand explodes, usually in the morning when you wake up and in the evening when making dinner. “Cars are parked for an average of 12 hours, or even more,” he recalls. If you charge it from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., it doesn’t change anything for the user. »
For the moment, Fusion Énergie claims to have saved a total of $7 million annually across its 211 buildings. “We are talking about a reduction in GHGs of 7,700 tonnes annually,” boasts the general director.
Newly acquired by the Montreal architectural firm Lemay, Fusion Énergie hopes that this collaboration will allow it to reach new markets – Toronto and New York are in the crosshairs. “The goal is to deploy our solution as much as possible to support the energy transition while providing benefits to our customers,” summarizes the general manager.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.