Hydro Ottawa’s Retrofit Accelerator Program Powers Ottawa Community Housing to Reduce Emissions
December 17, 2024
Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. (Hydro Ottawa) is supporting Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) in making significant strides towards reducing emissions across its portfolio through the Ottawa Retrofit Accelerator (ORA) program.
As part of this initiative, OCH has engaged Envari Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa and ORA approved carbon pathway study delivery consultant. Envari’s expertise will provide OCH with a comprehensive analysis and a tailored roadmap to maximize energy efficiency across 38 high-rise buildings and pursue its emission reduction targets. They hope the rest of OCH’s portfolio will also go through the programs.
This ambitious project aims to align OCH with the City of Ottawa’s Climate Change Master plan of achieving a 96 per cent reduction in OCH’s emissions by 2040.
This collaboration between Hydro Ottawa and Ottawa Community Housing exemplifies the power of partnership in tackling climate change. Hydro Ottawa’s innovative energy solutions are helping OCH achieve its environmental goals, while OCH’s leadership in sustainability sets a model for other commercial, institutional, or multi-residential buildings to follow in the transition to cleaner energy.
Quick facts
- In July of 2024, OCH and Hydro Ottawa announced an expansion to their existing partnership to further reduce carbon emissions in OCH communities through innovative energy-saving projects. These projects included technical support for the installation of EV charging infrastructure, heat pumps, on-site solar panels, and building automatic systems.
- Hydro Ottawa’s ORA program is available to commercial, institutional, mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings within Hydro Ottawa service territory.
- Hydro Ottawa was selected by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) to deliver the Ottawa Retrofit Accelerator, a $10 million program running until March 31, 2027.
- Hydro Ottawa’s ORA program provides an ecosystem of support services to help streamline the deep retrofit process and cover a portion of the cost.
- OCH’s goal is to align with the City of Ottawa’s Climate Change Master Plan of reducing emissions by 96 per cent by 2040.
- Since 2011, OCH has saved $64.1 million as a result of their sustainability and efficiency efforts
