Client: River District Energy / Wesgroup
Project Highlights
Year: 2020 to Present
Project Highlights
- 10 MW Waste-to-Energy ETS connection (MetroVan) for redistribution to the River District Energy System.
- 30 MW Output Heating Capacity.
- Sustainable Wood Construction for the Boiler Hall. Complete with a green lower roof.
- Flagship Energy Centre capping years of system development with River District.
Flagship Energy Centre capping years of development with River District
FVB has worked closely with Wesgroup Properties/River District Energy (RDE) since the initial conceptual district energy study at River District in 2007. FVB was then retained for the detailed design of the distribution piping system (DPS), 3 MW Temporary Energy Centre (TEC) and building energy transfer stations (ETS) during the first phases of the development.
FVB has continued to design and oversee construction of 2.7 km of DPS and more than 10 ETS connections. In 2017 FVB was involved in the build out of the Area 2C DPS and the extension across Marine Drive to Parcels 43, 44, and 45. An 8 MW TEC #2 was added in 2017 to serve the high‐density town center. In 2020, FVB started the design of the Permanent Energy Center (PEC), in parallel with the design and construction support of additional TEC #3. The boilers installed in the TEC #3 plant will be installed in the Permanent Energy Centre in the future.
The River District Permanent Energy Centre (RDPEC) was designed to be connected to the Metro Vancouver Waste-to-Energy Facility District Energy System. The FVB design team coordinated with Metro Vancouver consultants and incorporated in the design piping connections, floor space allocations, piping stress analysis and thermal concept review for an ETS to transfer the waste thermal energy to the River District System. The ETS will eventually be installed by Metro Vancouver within the RDPEC and is expected to seamlessly integrate with the plant design and operation.
The RDPEC was designed to include for up to 4 x 10 MW Natural gas boilers to provide full system capacity and redundancy for the River District System. The initial installation comprises of 2 x 10 MW natural gas boilers. The intention is for all the temporary energy centers previously installed to be displaced by the RDPEC. The design also accounts for shifting thermal capacity options. The electrical infrastructure was designed to allow for flexibility and adjustment to accommodate a possible electric boiler in the future. Space was allocated for future transformers to allow for this flexibility. The boiler hall was designed to accommodate the addition of boilers from TEC #3 or new 10 MW boilers to be added when required.
FVB Energy supported River District Energy with Owner’s Engineer tasks, such as their BCUC application for the PEC and advised RDE in their Energy Services Agreement contract negotiations with Metro Vancouver for this project.
FVB Energy was part of a diverse consulting team tasked with successfully implementing River District’s vision for their flagship energy centre. FVB provided concept and detailed design, procurement assistance, and is the Mechanical Engineer of Record for this project. Successful full load firing of the boilers was completed in the winter of 2025/2026.
FVB would like to acknowledge the integrated design team from Wesgroup, RDE, TKA+D (Architecture), AES (Electrical), RJC (Structural), GeoPacific (Geotechnical), and Introba (Fire Suppression), for their tireless efforts in successfully completing this exciting project. FVB would also like to acknowledge Scott Construction, Division 15 Mechanical, Houle Electrical and the various other trades which constructed the flagship Energy Centre.
Keywords
Energy Centre, Waste-to-Energy, Decarbonization, RDE