CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, Nov. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — This week, Extract Energy launched a pilot project with Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE) to demonstrate new technology designed to harvest a vast, untapped source of clean electricity.
Extract Energy’s Heat Engine will capture excess hydrothermal energy from a City of Hamilton district heating and cooling plant and convert it into grid-quality electricity.
“We are excited and pleased to be partnering with HCE — a smart cities organization that understands innovation and sustainability,” says Extract Energy CEO Ibraheem Khan. “This collaboration will demonstrate how our transformative technology can scale to help reduce carbon emissions while saving money.”
Waste heat offers a free source of energy. But because the temperature of most waste heat is relatively low, harvesting it using conventional technologies often doesn’t make economic sense. Extract Energy has developed a solution that turns that inefficiency into opportunity.
The nickel-titanium-based shape memory alloys at the heart of the Heat Engine expand and contract with heat, creating a motion that can be converted to zero-emission, grid-quality electricity. And because the engine integrates seamlessly with most equipment, it can be installed in a matter of hours, with no disruption to operations.
“HCE already uses cutting-edge technology to help communities and businesses in the GTHA boost their energy efficiency,” says Jeffrey Cowan, President and CEO of HCE. “Piloting Extract Energy’s Heat Engine gives us an opportunity to further demonstrate our environmental leadership and help drive new low-carbon innovation.”
The Heat Engine was developed with funding and support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the Ontario Centre of Innovation, Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada and MaRS. In 2020, Extract Energy tested a smaller version with Calgary’s Last Spike Brewery. Now, HCE will be the first in a series of pilot tests designed to validate the engine’s performance on a bigger scale.
“Ultimately, we’re aiming to scale from kilowatts to megawatts of energy,” says Khan. He points out that nearly 65 per cent of the world’s energy is currently lost as waste heat. “Tapping into such an enormous energy source has the potential to save millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year and create the scale of impact that’s required to address the climate crisis.”
About Extract Energy
Extract Energy is a division of Smarter Alloys: an award-winning materials science company located in Ontario, Canada. Extract Energy is at the forefront of deploying the potential of smart material to convert low grade waste heat to electricity.
For more information, visit www.extractenergy.com
Media Contact: Michael Kuntz 519-880-0100 / michaelkuntz@smarteralloys.com
About Hamilton Community Enterprises
Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE) provides facilities-based integrated utility solutions across both the Energy and Telecommunication sectors since the deregulation of Ontario’s electricity market in 2000. Wholly owned by the City of Hamilton, HCE focuses on providing transformative community-based network solutions across the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area. With expertise that integrates across thermal, electrical and data infrastructures, HCE is uniquely positioned to design and operate an innovative mix of services targeted towards broadband and energy efficiency, resiliency and sustainability that enable communities and the businesses within them to achieve their optimal performance.
For more information, visit https://www.hce.net/