What is the Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative?
Description
The Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative (DRAI) provides funding to organizations (i.e. “retrofit accelerators”) that help building owners in the development of deep retrofits in commercial, institutional, and mid- or high-rise multi-unit residential buildings in Canada, and that drive market transformation in a given region or market segment.
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The Government of Canada is investing $200 million between 2023 and 2027 for this initiative. The funding will support organizations (i.e. retrofit accelerators) in their work to convene and coordinate retrofit actors, support building owners through the deep retrofit process, and drive market transformation in a given region or market segment.
Specifically, funding from this call for applications will support projects that include all of the four following elements:
identify and/or aggregate deep retrofit projects guide individual building owners in the process of developing and implementing specific retrofit projects identify available funding and financing for specific deep retrofit projects conduct capacity building activities
Eligible Applicants
Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations
Canadian provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments and their departments and agencies, including public sector bodies, crown corporations or boards that are established by or under provincial or territorial statute or by regulation or are wholly owned by a province, territory or local or regional government, Indigenous governing bodies, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and communities
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​Eligible activities
Eligible activities funded include, but are not limited to:
• Energy or carbon audits/assessments, such as: energy performance analysis, identification, recommendations or coordination of measures, aggregation potential, maximizing electrification or carbon reduction potential, etc.
• Development of business cases/plans/proposals for various audiences (owners or shareholders, financers, tenants, etc.), proposal development facilitation
• Development of project plans that emphasize a holistic approach to retrofits, which may include work plans for: procurement, project design, integrated design charrettes, project management and administration, etc.
• Deep retrofit implementation facilitation and project support (excluding capital costs), including tendering, selection, coordination, evaluation, and management of engineering or architectural services, construction trades, other services
• Development and/or implementation of project/program evaluations, monitoring, technical studies
• Commissioning and/or recommissioning and building optimizing assessments/studies
• Onboarding, embedding, training or hiring energy managers or retrofit coordinators for client organizations
• Selecting, configuring, operating, or training client organizations for the use of monitoring and tracking systems
• Implementing or training for the use of energy benchmarking and reporting, and project monitoring and verification (M&V)
• Application for, or achievement of, standards or labeling outcomes such as ISO 50001 energy management standard, BOMA Best, LEED or ENERGY STAR Certification, etc.
• Stakeholder engagement and communication and awareness programs, including knowledge/information dissemination, hosting conferences and information sessions and training (including development and delivery)
• Delivering design workshops
• Technical studies / best practices to support innovative approaches for market transformation
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