Bonnyville Producing Heat from Making Ice

When the Town of Bonnyville decided to expand its ice arena, it added two rinks, a field house, a fitness centre, post-secondary classrooms and offices.

Thanks to a "cool" idea supported by a $600,000 ME first! interest-free loan, this large multipurpose facility will consume no more energy than the previous single rink.

The key to this energy efficiency is a new ice plant, which will capture the waste heat produced in making ice for the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre's three rinks. The recovered heat will then be used to heat the entire building, preheat domestic hot water and melt snow in the Zamboni room. This heat recovery allows the building's boilers to be smaller and run less frequently than in a traditional system.

"The new ice plant should create a much more energy-efficient building to operate", says Vic Stapleton, Bonnyville's economic development officer. "In fact, it should cost the same in gas and electricity to operate this much bigger new building as the old arena."

The new ice plant will reduce the building's greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 600 tonnes a year and its annual energy costs by more than $75,000, allowing the $1-million ice plant to be paid for in about 14 years. The $13-million expansion is expected to be completed by April 2007.

"It's exciting to see the ME first! program support innovative technology that will allow Bonnyville to expand its recreation facilities in the most energy-efficient manner possible," says Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Renner.