The government of Quebec announced financial assistance of nearly $10 million to Énergir, urban heating and air conditioning (ÉCCU) for a heat recovery and valorization project which, according to the government, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse (GES) in downtown Montreal of 10,000 tonnes.
The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, took advantage of his visit to the Montreal Climate Summit to announce this aid of $9,996,606 to ÉCCU.
“It’s important, we’re helping Énergir help us achieve our goals. This represents the decarbonization of essentially a third of downtown Montreal,” said the minister, adding that “it’s like a city of 35,000 inhabitants that will be decarbonized.”
ÉCCU operates the Montreal thermal power plant and supplies heating and air conditioning to several downtown infrastructures.
At a press conference, the vice-president of Énergir, Stéphanie Trudeau, gave the example of Place Ville-Marie, the Marriott Hotel, the Queen Elizabeth and the Central Station which currently use gas for air conditioning and heating.
The installation of two electric boilers and a heat recovery and recovery system will make it possible to supply these buildings, and several others, with electricity for these uses.
However, it is expected that natural gas will continue to be used, but only during peak periods, which will correspond to approximately 100 hours per year, according to Stéphanie Trudeau.
According to the government, nearly 2 million square meters of buildings in the city center are supplied by the network.