Wastewater Energy Transfer (WET) project at Toronto Western Hospital Breaks Ground

Noventa Energy Partners (Noventa) announced another milestone in the development of the world’s largest Wastewater Energy Transfer (WET) system – the groundbreaking for large Wetwell that will be used to access the wastewater flowing in the Mid Toronto Interceptor sewer below Dundas Street. The WET system will supply over 19MW of thermal energy to University Health Network’s Toronto Western Hospital representing 90% of the hospital’s annual heating and cooling needs.

“With work already underway inside the hospital, it is now time to start work on the Wetwell”  said Dennis Fotinos, CEO of Noventa. “The WetWell will be 35 feet in diameter and 165 feet deep and will contain the proprietary HUBER RoK4^®️ Screens that separate solids at the sewer level allowing only sieved wastewater to be pumped up and into the sealed, self-cleaning HUBER RoWin^®️ heat exchangers at the Energy Transfer Station. Unlike other wastewater energy systems, our HUBER ThermWin^®️ technology ensures that no one ever needs to handle the wastewater”.

Noventa will use the patented HUBER ThermWin^®️ technology (for which it is the exclusive North American distributor) to harvest the energy in raw municipal wastewater flowing through the sewer, to provide low-carbon heating and cooling to the hospital.  Over the next 30 years, Noventa’s WET System is expected to:

• supply 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of energy to the hospital, or approximately 90% of the hospital’s space heating and cooling requirements.
• reduce the hospital’s carbon dioxide emissions by 250,000 tonnes – the equivalent of taking over 1,800 cars off the road yearly.
• save over 141 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, 130 million cubic meters of natural gas, and 1.3 billion litres of cooling water (the equivalent of 520 Olympic-sized swimming pools)

This innovative project is made possible by the financial support of many partners; the Government of Canada, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, VanCity Bank, Enbridge Gas Inc., University Health Network (UHN) and Noventa.

John Tory, the Mayor of the City of Toronto, said

“This new wastewater project in Toronto is a great initiative that focuses on the need to address climate change in our everyday lives and the effort needed by both the private and public sector to work together to address the impacts of climate change.  I want to thank everyone involved in this project that will use innovative technology to help lower our carbon emissions in Toronto. My hope is that the success of this project will see us implementing similar technologies and initiatives across the city as we continue to meet our climate change goals.”

 Dr. Kevin Smith, President & CEO at University Health Network, said:

“At University Health Network, we know climate change is a major threat to health, which is why we’ve long been a leader in healthcare environmental sustainability locally, nationally, and around the globe. We’re so excited to be partnering with Noventa on the world’s largest raw wastewater energy transfer project right here at Toronto Western Hospital. Today’s groundbreaking is a major milestone that furthers our commitment in delivering A Healthier World – through a sustainable environment.”

Lou DiGironimo, General Manager of Toronto Water said:

“The City of Toronto is pleased to supply access to the trunk sewer so energy can be extracted to heat and cool Toronto Western Hospital. This allows the hospital to use green energy while Toronto Water will still continue to collect and treat the wastewater at our treatment plant. This is the first project of its kind in Toronto and helps us all work towards a more sustainable and livable city.”

Ehren Cory, CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank said:

“We are pleased to collaborate with Noventa Energy Partners, UHN and VanCity Bank on this exciting initiative and our first public building retrofit investment. The project will not only lower GHG emissions at the hospital but also support innovative green technology. We continue to partner with other public and private sector asset owners to invest in new energy retrofit projects which take action on climate change.”

Vince Gasparro, Managing Director of Corporate Development and Clean Energy Finance at VCIB said: “Vancity is at the forefront of financing clean energy projects across the country, including the largest wastewater to energy project in the world being delivered by Noventa Energy Partners. It is exactly this type of project that will make a real difference in our collective fight against the climate crisis, while at the same time creating good, long-term jobs for Torontonians and Canadians alike. We are delighted to partner with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Noventa on this innovative project to accelerate Canada’s transition towards a net-zero economy.”

Jim Sanders, Senior Vice President of Operations at Enbridge Gas, said:

Enbridge Gas is committed to advancing new technologies that enable businesses and communities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Development of the world’s largest Wastewater Energy Transfer system is an important step in the adoption of innovative low-emission energy solutions and is one example of how we are partnering and investing our resources to help the City of Toronto meet their climate change goals.

Further details on the technology and project can be viewed via an informational video by Noventa here.