News

Changes in technology and safety prompt update of BC Hydro incentive

Our Alliance of Energy Professionals members have been asking for it as far back as 2015, and it's now arrived. Tubular lamp replacements will now qualify for incentive funding through the business energy saving incentives (BESI) program.

"We had started allowing this on custom program projects so we could understand how well the lamps work, that they're interchangeable and don't have a lot of issues," says Tanya Perewernycky, who oversees BESI in her role as a BC Hydro program manager. "Early on, there had been a few safety issues, but our engineers are now comfortable with this simple replacement."

The development of ballast-compatible LED tubes, advances in integrated driver technology, and improved safety and compatibility standards have all made it easier to retrofit existing tubular lighting with efficient LED tubes. Customers and Alliance members will be able to select the most suitable LED tube solution – whether utilizing existing ballasts, using LED drivers, or direct-wired options.

LED tubes will be required to be qualified through the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) to be eligible to be included in the e.Catalog.

LED incentives increase by 10%

A review of the LED products in the market has shown improvements in the efficiency of LEDs. As a result, we're increasing the energy savings on all LED retrofits by 10% across the board. This will help to increase the energy savings as well as improve the incentive for most projects.

Another change is the reactivation of some HVAC configurations, including carbon dioxide sensors for parkades, adding demand ventilation controls, as well as HVAC occupancy sensors.