POWER.HOUSE HYBRID PILOT STUDY
Markham study explores feasibility and benefits of home-based energy generation
The pilot, Power.House Hybrid: Minimizing GHGs Emissions and Maximizing Grid Benefits, will evaluate how 10 Markham homes can both generate and store clean energy and optimize electrical and thermal technologies to minimize green house gas (GHG) emissions.
The pilot will explore how homes with deep energy retrofits can help lead the transition away from the current large, centralized power generation sources to decentralized, home-based cleaner power generation. Data from the pilot will help optimize system configuration and design for future installations and the learnings can be used to further educate Markham residents considering energy retrofits. Finding will be shared upon project completion.
Will these retrofitted homes be able to create energy from cleaner sources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower operating costs all without sacrificing comfort? Stay tuned to find out how this exciting pilot study unfolds throughout the coming year!
This study is a partnership between Alectra Utilities, Enbridge Gas, Ryerson University and the City of Markham and has been partially funded by Natural Resources Canada.
View Markham’s Municipal Energy Plan (MEP) – Getting to Zero, a comprehensive long-term city-wide energy plan with the objective of net zero emissions by 2050.
To learn more about home energy retrofits visit yourvoicemarkham.ca/home-energy-retrofits.
- Latest News
- Markham Celebrates Earth Month: Recording
- Markham Celebrates Earth Month: Live Questions Answered!
- News Article: Alectra, Enbridge Gas and City of Markham team up to minimize GHG emissions, maximize grid benefits
- Retrofit Technologies
Each of the 10 homes have been retrofitted with a suite of electrical and hybrid heating technologies depending on the specific home.
Homeowners were selected based on a number of criteria including:
- Requirement for them to own an electric vehicle
- Size of home
- Suitability of roof to host solar panels
- Type of home heating and cooling system
- Willingness of to share data and allow occasional site visits for monitoring and servicing the equipment
Having multiple, independent electrical and thermal energy solutions in one house requires an energy management system to aggregate and dispatch these resources throughout the house.
The electrical equipment is designed to create, store and deliver electricity and includes:
- Roof-mounted solar photovoltaic cells
- Battery storage system
- Level 2 electric vehicle charger
Specific electrical components include:
- Electric vehicle supply equipment
- Solar panel module
- Solar inverter
- Solar integration system
The hybrid heating system components vary depending on the home and are designed to:
- Maintain a hot water, thermal microgrid that uses a hot water air handler and a high efficiency natural gas appliance to generate hot water as a replacement for the home’s conventional natural gas furnace and tank-type water heater.
- Enable dual fuel (natural gas and electricity) capabilities for home heating using a high efficiency boiler and an air source heat pump to support the hybrid heating capabilities.
Thermal equipment varies by home and includes one of two packages.
Package one:
- Tankless gas water heater
- Air handling unit
- Air source heat pump
- Micro combined heat and power with external transformer
- Storage tank
Package two:
- High efficiency boiler
- Air handling unit
- Air source heat pump
- Storage tank
- Future Benefits
In a best-case scenario, future benefits may include:
- Increasing flexibility and reliability for the electrical grid by shifting power generation from centralized power stations to individual homes
- Enabling homes to become more self-sufficient by generating their own power
- Reducing greenhouse GHG emissions by producing power from cleaner sources
- Reducing household electrical bills by using renewable energy sources such as solar
- Minimizing operational costs for homeowners by leveraging the modern technologies that create efficiencies
- Increasing clean energy jobs and more!
Contact
8101 Leslie Street
Thornhill, ON, L3T 7P4
Hours
6 PM to 12 AM
FRONT DESK SERVICES
Not available.