Next Meeting
Thursday, January 15, 2022
"Meeting Room", Kensington Market Lofts, 21 Nassau Street, just off Spadina south of College.
The next meeting of the Downtown West Multi-Unit Solar Energy Project will take place on Thursday, January 15th at 7:30pm, in
the Meeting Room of the Kensington Market Lofts, 21 Nassau Street,just off of Spadina on the north side of Kensington Market.
Please note that this is change from our usual location.
We have two exciting speakers lined up for the meeting. Derrick Finn will describe what is involved in doing an energy audit
in a multi-unit building. And then Gordon Graff will present The Grow Project, which is his design for a building to replace
the Moss Park Armoury. Providing affordable housing for 1000 people, his building would be self-sufficient in energy and food
production, harvest rainwater, and treat all of its sewage on site.
Of course, the meeting will also include reports from each condo and co-op on the status of their own renewable energy
project. We hope you can join us.
When 50 people from multi-unit residential buildings attended a late September 2006 meeting at the Harbourfront Community
Centre, it confirmed that there is great interest among many people in seeing solar water heating and solar
electricity-generating projects sprout on the rooftops of downtown condominiums and cooperative housing buildings. More
than 50% of Toronto residents live in multi-unit buildings, yet there are financial and other challenges that make it
difficult to establish solar energy projects on their rooftops.
Since that time, the Downtown West Multi-Unit Solar Energy project, an all-volunteer working group, has brought together
representatives of corporations, government, not-for-profit organizations and interested residents in order to catalyze
discussion around rooftop solar for condo and co-op residences. Several of the co-ops and condos that are members of
the DWMUSEP are working on their own energy conservation and renewable energy projects. At our bi-monthly meetings,
participating co-ops and condos report on the progress they have made on their projects, sharing the challenges and
opportunities and building on the experiences of each other.
Each meeting also includes brief presentations from renewable energy equipment vendors, condo or coop federations, or
granting agencies, when they explain what they do and how they can benefit the coop and condo boards and residents.
The DWSEP pays particular attention to the various government incentives that are available to multi-unit coops and condos.
Please see below for a summary of some of the government incentives that are available.
As attendance at our bi-monthly meetings has grown steadily over the last 2 years, we are looking forward to another
productive year. Please join us, and encourage any friends and colleagues who might be interested.
You can learn more by attending the January 15 meeting or by contacting either of the Project co-chairs below.
Tim Grant, (416) 960-1244, [email protected]
David Booz, (416) 806-2669, [email protected]
Seeking Condos and Co-ops Interested in Solar Study
Over the last couple of years of the DWMUSEP, we have found that there are lots of MURBs that are interested in exploring
renewable energy opportunities for their buildings, but don't know how to get started. There is grant money available to
help subsidize feasibility studies to determine if renewable energy systems are viable for these MURBs, and the City is very
interested in facilitating this kind of work, but we need to figure out a way to get the work done.
David Booz, Fidel Reijerse, and Ken Traynor, in conjunction with the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative, are putting
together the TREC Multi-Unit Renewable Energy Project. Our plan is to assemble a group of 10 to 20 MURBS who are interested
in a renewable energy feasibility study. Once we have a good solid group, we will submit a single application for grant
money to subsidize the cost of the feasibility studies for all of the buildings. Our target is to have each MURB pay about
half the cost (up to $ 5,000), with grant money subsidizing the other half.
We are looking at a few different granting agencies that may be interested in supporting this project. Submitting a
single application covering multiple projects to each granting body would be more efficient than a separate application for
each MURB, both for the project and for the granting organizations. We also believe that there will be significant
efficiencies and synergies to doing several studies at once, such as having site visits at multiple MURBs on the same day or
using what we learn for one project and applying it right away to the next one. Once we have done a number of feasibility
studies, we want to generalize the results in a manner that will provide a template for action for other buildings,
highlighting things that are common between buildings and things that are different.
If the TREC project is going to ask funding bodies for money, they need to demonstrate that there are a number of
buildings that are serious about doing a facility study. Is your MURB interested in joining this project? Will your condo
or co-op board be willing to come up with the funds required to participate? If so, please contact us:
David Booz, [email protected], 416-806-2669
Ken Traynor, [email protected], (416) 654-7362
Fidel Reijerse, [email protected], (416) 361-0752
Government Incentives for Renewable Energy
There are a number of government incentives available for installation of solar energy systems on multi-unit residential
buildings. Some of the more attractive incentives are listed below. Please follow the links to the web sites for more
detailed information on these incentives.
Federal Government Programs
EcoEnergy for Renewable Heat:
The ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program runs from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2011. Incentives are offered to the
industrial/commercial/institutional sector to install active energy-efficient solar air and/or water heating systems.
Eligible projects must be completed and commissioned within six (6) months of the signing of a contribution agreement with
NRCan. Preliminary estimates suggest that, by 2011, the program will have supported installations in about 700 buildings.
ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat will offer an incentive to industrial, commercial and institutional purchasers of solar heating
systems. The incentive will rebate 25 percent of the purchase, installation and certain other costs of qualifying systems up
to $80,000 per building.
Funding is available for Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) buildings and MURBs (i.e. multi-unit residential
buildings) that are greater than 600 square metres, more than three storeys and have a common entrance.
For more information visit: http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoenergy-ecoe
nergie/heat-chauffage/index-eng.cfm
Class 43.1 Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance and Canadian Renewable and Conservation Expenses:
A 50% accelerated CCA is provided under Class 43.2 of Schedule II to the Income Tax Regulations for specified clean energy
generation equipment. Eligible equipment includes solar thermal, solar air and solar photovoltaic equipment while project
size restrictions have been eliminated.
Class 43.2 was introduced in 2005 and is currently available for assets acquired on or after February 23, 2022 and before
2012. For assets acquired before February 23, 2005, accelerated CCA is provided under Class 43.1 is 30%.
For more information visit: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/industrial/fi
nancial-assistance/tax-incentives.cfm?attr=24
Provincial Government Program
Industrial/Commercial/Institutional Solar Thermal Heat
The Ontario government is making $14.4 million available over four years to encourage the industrial/commercial/institutional
sector to convert to solar thermal heating. This initiative is piggy backing on the Federal ecoENERGY Renewable Heat Program.
The Federal program allows businesses, industries, schools, universities, municipalities and hospitals to receive 25% of the
cost of the installation of a solar thermal heating system to a maximum of $80,000. The Ontario Provincial government will
match the Federal offer and contribute an additional 25% leading industrial/commercial/institutional solar projects to
receive a 50% rebate on the initial upfront development costs.
To access the provincial grant you must first access the federal grant program.
Qualifying details (and other key FAQ's) can be found at: http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=c
onservation.osthi
Last Updated December 30, 2021