Government of Canada Supports Green Energy Infrastructure in New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick, February 26, 2010 – Rodney Weston, Member of Parliament for Saint John, on behalf of John Baird, Canada's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, today announced support for the construction of the City of Saint John's Green Thermal Utility as part of the Canada's Economic Action Plan. MP Weston was joined at the announcement by His Worship Ivan Court, Mayor of the City of Saint John.

"Through our Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada is working to ensure that New Brunswick comes out of this period of economic uncertainty stronger than ever before," said MP Weston. "As we enter the second phase of our Plan, we will continue to support important green infrastructure projects such as this one. At the same time, we are looking ahead to future challenges – especially restoring balanced budgets once our economy is fully recovered – to build a strong foundation for future economic and environmentally sound growth."

"The City of Saint John is pleased to be moving towards providing green, sustainable energy to the South Central peninsula," said Mayor Ivan Court. "With the support of Canada's Green Infrastructure Fund, Saint John is moving toward a more sustainable future, a main goal of Common Council."

The City of Saint John's Green Thermal Utility Project will construct a non-emitting and sustainable heating and cooling system. The system will capitalize on the city's industrial operations and its proximity to the Bay of Fundy by recovering and storing renewable thermal energy for existing buildings and upcoming developments on Saint John's South-Central peninsula.

Total project costs are estimated at $29.8 million. The Government of Canada is making the project a priority for consideration and will contribute up to $9.8 million under the $1 billion Green Infrastructure Fund. The remainder of the funding will be provided by the City of Saint John.

The Government of Canada is moving forward with one of the largest infrastructure programs in history to create jobs and stimulate the economy. The first phase of our Economic Action Plan accelerates and expands recent historic federal investments in infrastructure with almost $12 billion in new infrastructure stimulus funding over two years.

To learn more about Canada's Economic Action Plan, visit Canada's Economic Action Plan. For more information on Government of Canada investments in infrastructure, visit Creating Jobs.

For more information, contact:

James Kusie
Office of Canada's Transport and Infrastructure Minister
613-991-0700

Infrastructure Canada
613-948-1148

Leah Fitzgerald
Communications Officer
City of Saint John
506-648-3714

Backgrounder
IMPROVING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN NEW BRUNSWICK

Infrastructure investment stimulates economic growth, creates jobs, supports stronger communities and enhances the overall prosperity of New Brunswickers.

The Government of Canada is making the City of Saint John's Green Thermal Utility project a priority for infrastructure funding consideration under the Green Infrastructure Fund. Canada will contribute an investment of up to one-third of total eligible costs of the project, to maximum federal support of $9.8 million, subject to the signing of a contribution agreement. The remainder of the funding will be provided by the City of Saint John, with the total project costs estimated at $29.8 million.

The proposed initiative consists of constructing a district green energy system using multiple technologies to capitalize on the city's industrial operations and its geographic location next to the Bay of Fundy. The system will deliver a non-emitting and sustainable source of heating and cooling by recovering and storing renewable thermal energy to be used by existing buildings and upcoming developments on Saint John's central peninsula.

As the City of Saint John expands the project, new and existing commercial and residential buildings could be linked to the central green thermal utility, such as the Saint John Police Headquarters, the Provincial Justice Complex at Peel Plaza, the Coast Guard Site (in 2013).

The Green Thermal Utility is a multi-phase project, which could take up to 10 years to fully develop. The goal of the GTU is to connect over 10 million square feet of commercial and residential space to reduce CO2 emissions by over 60,000 tonnes.

Federal funding is conditional on the project meeting all of the requirements under the Green Infrastructure Fund and the signing of a contribution agreement for the project.

About the Green Infrastructure Fund

Through Canada's Economic Action Plan, the federal government will provide $1 billion over five years for the new Green Infrastructure Fund.

Eligible projects are those that promote cleaner air, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and cleaner water, and fall within any of the following categories: wastewater infrastructure; green energy generation infrastructure; green energy transmission infrastructure and solid waste infrastructure, and carbon transmission and storage infrastructure.