New Strata Energy Advisor Program Will Help Condos Go All-Electric

The Strata Energy Advisor will support strata councils through every step of major capital renewal projects, and help navigate financing, incentives, implementation and technologies like heat pumps and solar panels.

Today, the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC) launched the Strata Energy Advisor program, which will provide in-depth support for busy strata councils interested in bringing climate and energy upgrades to their buildings.

This free service is open to residential multi-unit strata buildings (condos) across the province. The City of Victoria and District of Saanich are providing funding for additional program spaces and support in their communities, reinforcing their commitment to supporting healthy, comfortable, and energy-efficient buildings for residents.

“Across BC, condo residents are asking for better cooling and ventilation and more energy efficient homes,” says Melina Scholefield, Executive Director of the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre. “Solutions like heat pumps, electric water heating, and distributed renewable energy systems can meet these needs while reducing GHGs. However, many strata councils don’t know where to start—that’s where the Strata Energy Advisor comes in.”

The Strata Energy Advisor program will provide hands-on guidance for strata councils from start to finish. This includes identifying retrofit opportunities aligned with major capital renewals, navigating technology and financing options, and supporting implementation.

Overall, ZEIC’s Strata Energy Advisor program aims to provide decarbonization plans for 260 condo buildings across BC over the next three years, with more than 60 directly supported by the City of Victoria and District of Saanich.

The Strata Energy Advisor is being undertaken in partnership with the Condominium Home Owners Association of BC (CHOA BC) and is part of ZEIC’s new BC Retrofit Accelerator Program.

For more information and to apply for the program, visit strataenergyadvisorbc.ca

• There are approximately 11,000 residential strata Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) in BC, representing 680,000 households. These strata MURBs house more than 1.5 million people and represent 24 per cent of the province’s residential housing stock.
• Buildings are responsible for about 25 per cent of all GHGs in Metro Vancouver and eight per cent of all GHGs in the province.
• The Strata Energy Advisor program complements the CleanBC MURB Retrofit program by providing ongoing, comprehensive coaching services to strata councils including identifying relevant incentives provided through the MURB Retrofit program.
• The Strata Energy Advisor is part of the BC Retrofit Accelerator, which is funded by Natural Resource Canada’s Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative, the Ronald S Roadburg Foundation, Metro Vancouver, ZEIC, and other contributors. Specific funds for the Strata Energy Advisor program have been contributed by the City of Victoria, District of Saanich and BC Hydro.

To be eligible for the Strata Energy Advisor program the building must fulfill the below requirements:

• be based in BC; and
• have an upcoming end of life replacement project; and
• have natural gas for heating, hot water, ventilation, or fireplaces; and participants must be interested in electrifying one or more of these systems.
• For the wider provincial program, the building must be four or more stories above ground OR greater than 600 m2 floorplate (roughly 30 units or more).
  • In the City of Victoria or District of Saanich, there are additional spaces for buildings that have five or more units, including those interested in switching from electric baseboard heating to heat pumps.