More power to us: Green-friendly west London development feeding electricity grid
There's a power surge at Sifton Properties’ West 5 development.
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There’s a power surge at Sifton Properties’ West 5 development.
In the three years since the environmentally friendly residential and commercial development at London’s western edge began feeding power to the grid, it has increased by more than eight-fold the amount of electricity it is generating, said chief executive Richard Sifton.
In 2017, it provided about 188 megawatt hours of electricity to the grid. This year, that will increase to more than 1,500 Mwh, he added — enough to power about 180 homes for a year, the company estimates.
“We have made some great strides,” Sifton said. “We have put solar panels on all our buildings, and we even opened two parkades that have them, that’s why we’re hitting these numbers. Every time we build, we get better, we produce more.”
West 5 uses what it needs and the balance goes back into the grid, “allowing us to feed other houses,” especially in the high sun summer months, said Sifton.
Now, West5 has two parking garages, townhomes have been built, a commercial and office space is open, and a 10-storey, 115-unit apartment building, Helios, is built, started leasing in May and is nearly 70 per cent full.
“It’s completely unique,” Sifton said of how it has been leased amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re building to a new standard. It’s the way of the future. The days of burning energy for the sake of burning energy are gone.”
West 5 now has a retirement apartment under construction and a retirement home is waiting in the wings. Approval from the Ontario government to add solar panels is needed before it starts building about 40 new townhomes.
“It’s validation, it’s confirmation. We added tenants and residents who want to be part of this. We want to do something more than just provide housing,” said Sifton.
Vinay Sharma, chief executive at London Hydro, agreed West 5 has increased dramatically the power it sends to the grid, adding that it is close to being carbon-neutral.
“It’s a success as far as we can tell. It has done a wonderful job managing its net zero efforts. They have designed high-efficiency buildings,” Sharma said. “They are injecting power into the grid and I think it’s close to net zero (energy consumption).”
Along with solar panels and building design West5 building features, such as environmentally friendly windows, programs to minimize waste and encourage recycling, energy-efficient lighting and enhanced insulation as just a few measures helping make it a green space, Sharma said.
“They’re bringing sustainability to the community,” Sharma said.
When it is built out. West 5 promises to be a 28-hectare development featuring 450,000 sq. ft. of commercial space and 2,000 townhomes and apartment units.
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