District Energy
Simply put, district energy is a way of sharing energy more efficiently across multiple buildings. Rather than each building having its own heating and cooling equipment, a district energy system consists of a central plant that supplies energy to a surrounding area via underground pipes.
District energy provides numerous benefits to customers, developers, institutional campuses, cities and municipalities. Here are a few:
- Predictable, competitive, long-term rates ensuring price stability and cost management
- Reduced carbon footprint
- Increased energy efficiency
- Greater reliability and redundancy in energy supply
- Flexibility to adapt to changing sustainable technologies
Our team of experts can help to assess your site’s suitability. Corix owns and operates a substantial portfolio of projects varying in size and scope, and we take pride in our ability to evaluate and develop greenfield, low-carbon energy projects throughout the entire project lifecycle. Please reach out to our team for a free consultation.
Corix is flexible in developing solutions that work for our customers. We can develop and operate sites that provide thermal heating and DHW only (based on the geographic location). Others may request that DHW be managed by building owners, and some systems may realize that cooling is a requirement in the future and will need to be phased in. Corix can review existing and future energy demand profiles to help determine the best approach for your project.
As an experienced utility provider, Corix typically owns and operates our utility systems, but we have experience with a range of ownership models.
Corix has the flexibility and experience to structure business and governance models to fit our clients’ needs and objectives, ranging from fully private ownership models to concessions (primarily in partnership with public entities) or strategic partnerships and joint ownership structures.
Yes, Corix has experience working in both regulated and unregulated markets.
In the regulated environment, a regulatory body provides approval for the development of the utility and customer rates along with oversight of the utility, allowing any project stakeholder, even the general public, to register as an intervener and become closely involved in the approval process.
In an unregulated environment, rates are governed by contract. Please reach out to Corix for additional governance model principles that are being utilized in the unregulated market space.
Our customers expect reliability. Corix uses advanced monitoring technology called SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) to monitor, gather and process real-time data for our local and remote operations.
The system sensors provide constant updates about the equipment, allowing the team to identify and troubleshoot issues immediately and mitigate or prevent downtime for our customers. Our systems have built-in redundancy, so they can continue to operate using backup sources and equipment.
Low-Carbon Solutions
We recommend conducting a technical and financial feasibility assessment to determine the best technologies for the project now and down the road. Corix is technology agnostic; we don’t endorse one technology over another. Contact our team to obtain further information on feasibility assessments.
In some cases, it may not be feasible to connect a single discrete building to a district energy system, or there may not be a district energy network nearby. However, there are still opportunities for the building to utilize a renewable energy source to reduce its carbon footprint.
Even if a discrete, building-based system is initially implemented, there is the flexibility to expand that system or interconnect with other developments that could provide future benefits and economies of scale. Many factors are at play and should be considered when determining what low-carbon heating and cooling solutions are feasible for your site. Contact Corix to help your team navigate through these initial determinations.
BAU is an in-building (or site-specific) heating and cooling solution that would be typically built if an alternative energy solution, such as district energy, is not implemented.
In order to determine competitive district energy costs to customers, Corix works with our clients to establish a true baseline assessment and determines the BAU lifecycle analysis compared to the potential district system. It’s important to establish an apples-to-apples comparison that includes the full cost of ownership of each option and not just the fuel source.
Each one of our projects is assessed based on the client’s objectives, proposed development buildout and phasing, as well as any contemplated in-building requirements and systems. Corix has developed and operates both decentralized and centralized systems and understands that each system type has inherent benefits and challenges.
Business
Corix works with our clients to identify each party’s roles, responsibilities, governance and risk sharing. Then, these terms are captured in a business agreement between the parties.
Corix earns a return on our capital investments. Design and construction, as well as operating and fuel costs, are typically treated as ‘flow-through’ costs.
Corix has accessed millions of dollars in grants and funds on behalf of our customers. We are associated with organizations and services that provide grants and low-cost funding opportunities to the private sector, municipalities, and our project partners.
Customer Support
Please call our 24/7 customer support at:
- Cleveland Thermal: 216-241-3636
- Canada and Washington state: 1-844-852-5651
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