Feasibility Study: Integration of Solar/Storage/EV Chargers in Condos
Feasibility Study for Solar/Storage/Electric Vehicles in Condos will investigate the integration of solar, battery storage, solar thermal, EV chargers, and possibly combined heat and power into the heating and electrical system of an 83-unit condo building. The study will include a financial and feasibility model that can be adapted to similar multi-unit residential buildings.
Grant award: $50,000
MCC Energy Strategies is looking at deep energy retrofit solutions for large scale multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) through an innovative and integrated approach to energy management.
Buildings in the HRM make up around 40-45% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (want to learn more about how the building sector can play a role in a net-zero transition? In order to meet the target of net-zero by 2050, Halifax’s building stock will need to undergo significant retrofits, and this includes MURBs – which is where MCC’s work comes in.
Bruce McCulloch, President of MCC, and his team are conducting a feasibility study of Searidge, a condo building, to explore the multitude of ways that a large MURB can make use of renewable energy, battery storage, and energy efficiency. This includes:
Solar panels to generate electricity on-site;
Battery storage;
Solar thermal panels to preheat water; and
EV charging stations which might incorporate vehicle to grid storage.
Based on McCulloch’s modelling and projections, this combination of strategies will help reduce the building’s net electrical energy to zero, and the natural gas consumption by as much as 25%. Searidge is a 6-story, 82 unit building in Bedford, over a two-level parkade. The results of this feasibility study will be used to provide insight for others across the HRM who are interested in doing similar deep energy retrofits.
This project, which is still ongoing, has been an opportunity to explore what integrated energy solutions are technically feasible, financially sound, and yield significant GHG savings. MCC Energy gathered energy use data for a full year to inform appropriate sizing of a battery that would allow the building to store solar-generated energy for use during nighttime hours. As part of this data gathering, a spike in power usage related to the inrush of current at the start of each elevator use was discovered, requiring further study and re-sizing of the battery. Costs for the battery system also proved to be more expensive than expected, leading MCC to pivot and consider different financing scenarios other than outright ownership for solar PV and battery systems, including “lease to own” and “renewable to retail” (where energy can be sold back to the utility operator and generate revenue for the condo association).
MCC is also partnering with NSCC to test modifications to baseboard radiators that allow them to operate with lower temperature water. If successful, this would at a minimum reduce the energy needed to operate the boiler. A pilot project is envisioned for a similar smaller condo building to determine how far the temperature can be reduced with these baseboard modifications. The ultimate goal is to see if a central heat pump system could replace the boiler for most, if not all, of the winter. These goals of reducing the boiler temperature and introducing a central heat pump will not be completed within the time frame of the original Searidge study, but MCC is committed to seeing this work through.
The governance model of condo associations provides particular challenges to deep energy retrofits. Because 67% of condo owners have to approve capital expenditures, initiating a project that uses discretionary funds heavily depends on the interest of the president and Board of Directors of a condo association. For this reason, it can be difficult to gain approval for large capital projects. By going through this detailed process, MCC Energy is seeking to build a toolkit and business case to help condo owners understand the costs and benefits of investing in integrated energy solutions. This could help facilitate decision-making at other condos and could also apply to other types of MURBs.
Though this model is specifically for a condo complex where the residents are owners, the studies done will show that these retrofits are economically beneficial for other MURBs. This will hopefully lead landlord-owned MURBs to consider investing in similar energy retrofits of their own, resulting in greener and more affordable buildings. When asked how this study could be applied to a landlord-tenant arrangement, McCulloch said “I think they need case studies to prove it, and so…this condo is the start of the case studies.”
The learnings and recommendations generated by MCC’s work lay an important foundation for reductions in energy use at Searidge that, if implemented, will provide an important case study and give other condo associations confidence in investing in their own energy efficiency efforts.
Grant Highlights
