Custom project incentives
Get funding for energy efficient upgrades or design
Energy is a major expense for any industrial facility. That's why it's important to build efficiency into your facility right from the start, or to invest in energy efficiency upgrades when inefficient equipment is impacting your bottom line.
We offer incentives to help. Applicable project types:
- Energy-efficient equipment upgrades at existing facilities.
- Energy-efficient plant design for new facilities.
- Design for energy-efficient facility expansions.
Program benefits
- Save big on the up-front cost of new equipment.
- Save continuously on energy and operating costs.
- Improve customer satisfaction and/or product quality thanks to high-performing equipment.
- Become an industry leader in smart energy use.
The offer
Get generous funding for energy efficiency equipment and upgrades at your industrial facility. Your custom incentive funding amount can shorten the payback of your project investment to as little as one year.
| CUSTOMER TYPE | INCENTIVE RATE |
MAXIMUM INCENTIVE |
|---|---|---|
Distribution |
2¢ to 5¢ per kWh, depending on your project payback period. |
$1 million, a one-year payback amount, or 75% of project cost, whichever is least. |
Transmission |
4¢ per kWh |
$1 million or 75% of project cost, whichever is less. |
How it works
- Gather the information required for your application.
- Most applicants have pursued an energy efficiency feasibility study first, which results in a detailed report including all the information required.
- If you're not pursuing that study, contact us and we'll provide a technical requirements document that your engineer or consultant can complete.
- Submit an application.
- We'll perform an engineering and financial review of your project and calculate an incentive amount.
- We'll send you an agreement package for your signature which includes the incentive amount and the terms and conditions.
- Work with your contractors to purchase and install the equipment.
- Once your project is installed, send us copies of your paid invoices along with your completion documents (listed in your agreement package). We'll then review your documents and process the incentive payment.
Eligibility
- You're an industrial sector customer on our large general service distribution rate or transmission rate.
- Your project or group of projects will save at least 25 megawatt-hours per year.
- For new plants or major expansions, the minimum is 300 megawatt-hours per year.
- Your project involves a hard-wired facility upgrade with an expected lifespan of five years or more.
- Your site falls into one of the following categories:
- Your site has been operational for a minimum of six months prior to applying,
- Your site is a new facility, or
- You're planning an expansion that will grow your site's energy use by more than 10%.
Eligible costs
This incentive can be applied to all aspects of your project costs, including design, equipment, installation, disposal of old equipment, and tax.
How to apply
Applications are submitted by your Key Account Manager or Regional Energy Manager. Contact them to apply.
If you're not sure who to talk to, contact our business help desk at 1 866 522 4713.
Resources
If you were planning a system upgrade that would cost $200,000 and save 1,000,000 kWh per year for 10 years, here's how we'd calculate your project incentive:
Pre-incentive calculation
Without any project incentives, this project would pay for itself in two and a half years.
Project costs |
$200,000 |
Incentive calculation
The available incentive is determined by the lowest of three calculations below:
- 75% of the project cost: $200,000 × 75% = $150,000
- The amount needed to reduce the payback period to one year (i.e. the project cost less one year's savings)
$200,000 - $80,000 = $120,000 - The total lifespan electricity savings multiplied by the eligible incentive rate:
1,000,000 kWh/yr × 10 years × $0.016/kWh** = $160,000
Therefore, this project is capped at the amount needed to reduce the payback period to one year – in this case, $120,000.
After incentive
With a project incentive of $120,000, your project costs are reduced and the payback period reduced to one year. Of course, this project will also continue to save on energy costs for 10 years.
To calculate the total project savings:
Final project costs (after incentive) Total project savings |
$80,000 $920,000 |
* Based on 1,000,000 kWh per year for 10 years at a typical rate savings of $0.08/kWh. Rate is for example only and does not factor in taxes or net present value (NPV).
** The incentive rate is determined after a financial evaluation by BC Hydro and ranges from $0.015 to $0.029 per kWh.
If you were planning a system upgrade that will cost $1,000,000 and save 2,500 MWh per year for 10 years, here's how we'd calculate your project incentive:
Pre-incentive calculation
Without any project incentives, this project would pay for itself in approximately six and a half years.
Project costs |
$1,000,000 |
Incentive calculation
(determined by the lowest of the two calculations below)
- 75% of the project cost ($1,000,000 × 75% = $750,000)
- The total lifespan electricity savings multiplied by the eligible incentive rate**.
2,500 MWh/yr × 10 years × $30.2/MWh** = $755,000
Therefore, this project is capped at 75 percent of the project costs – in this case, $750,000.
After incentive
With a project incentive of $750,000, your project costs are reduced and the payback period dropped to just over one and a half years, while you'll continue to save on energy costs for 10 years.
Project costs after incentives Total project savings |
$212,500 $2,275,000 |
* Based on 2,500 MWh per year for 10 years at a typical rate savings of $61/MWh. Rate is for example only and does not factor in taxes or net present value (NPV).
** The base incentive rate is $45/MWh. Factoring in the net present value (NPV) for a project with a 10 year persistence gives us a rate of $30.2/MWh.
Related programs
Self-serve incentives
Apply online for incentives for compressed air systems (between 40 and 300 horsepower) or lighting retrofit projects.