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New $185.5-MIL initiative launches to increase “depth and rate” of building retrofits

February 10, 2023  By  Anthony Capkun



February 10, 2023 – Natural Resources Canada has launched a new, $185.5-million initiative to accelerate deep retrofits in buildings, reports NRCan’s Office of Energy Efficiency.

“In order to meet its climate targets, the Government of Canada must increase the depth and rate of building retrofits,” writes NRCan. “Retrofits, especially deep retrofits, are complex projects with many moving parts—from project pre-development to financing and project implementation—and involve many players.”

This complexity generates barriers to the development of deep retrofit projects across Canada, adds NRCan.

The Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative (DRAI), then, aims to help the situation by offering non-repayable contributions to projects that build capacity for, and facilitate the development of, deep retrofits in commercial, institutional, or mid- or high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Canada.

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Selected projects will establish 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, and conduct capacity-building activities, such as developing or implementing novel, standardized, or replicable approaches to deep retrofits.

Eligible applicants include Canadian organizations (both for-profit and not), all levels of government, and Indigenous organizations and groups.

Questions? Email drai-iarm@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.

Several information sessions about the program and application process will be conducted online (via Teams). Click on a date/time to register:

February 28 at 10:00 am EST (English)

February 28 at 2:00 pm EST (English)

March 2 at 2:00 pm EST (French)

Applications must be received by April 28, 2023.

Indigenous applicants, or applicants who focus on Indigenous communities, may submit applications at any time until March 31, 2025, or until funding is fully distributed.

Additional calls for applications may be launched in the future.

NOTE: Capital costs (e.g. equipment or materials purchase or lease, and other deep retrofit implementation costs) are not an eligible expenditure under this program.


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