More than 1,000 homes in a planned community near Winnipeg’s University of Manitoba campus will heat and cool their homes with geothermal energy after the Province announced $4 million in funding yesterday.
The news: On Wednesday, Manitoba unveiled its Net Zero Action Plan, a guiding document outlining specific actions as part of Manitoba’s Path to Net Zero planning. Included among those actions is a $4-million investment to create a “new geothermal neighbourhood” at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus in Winnipeg. The geothermal system is planned for an 80-acre, mixed-use community development called Southwood Circle. It will be the first large-scale geothermal network in Manitoba.
From the source: “Our hope is to transform the University of Manitoba campus into a world-leading ‘UniverCity’ that could one day welcome as many as 65,000 people,” Manitoba climate change minister Mike Moyes said in a press release yesterday.
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The context: The community will be developed in partnership with UM Properties GP Inc., an LP controlled by a University of Manitoba trust. The project is envisioned as a mixed-use community home to both medium and high-rise housing, and up to 300,000 sq. ft. of office and commercial space, according to the Province. While still in development, the project projects that geothermal energy will power heating and cooling for as many as 1,000 new homes by 2028.
Final thought: Rather than focusing on courting data-centre development with sometimes emissions-heavy power sources, Manitoba has focused its recent investments in a different direction. More than $350 million in provincial dollars have been earmarked for Manitoba’s Net Zero Action Plan so far, including $55 million to help business and industry transition toward decarbonization. Nationally, Canada has made developing geothermal tech a priority earlier this year with a roadmap for identifying tech and research and development opportunities. The tech is seen as one with high, underdeveloped potential for Canada, since it’s conducive for much of the country’s landmass, and harnesses skill sets used in other Canadian industries like oil and gas.
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Feature image courtesy of Unsplash.