TORONTO, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carlyle Coutinho, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of Enwave Energy Corporation (Enwave), has been named the 2026 Ontario Energy Association (OEA) Leader of the Year, becoming the first CEO of a dedicated district energy company to receive the honour. The recognition reflects Coutinho’s leadership in advancing innovative, large-scale energy solutions and in elevating the role district energy can play in meeting Ontario’s and Canada’s energy needs.
The OEA Leader of the Year award, one of the highest honours in Canada’s energy sector, recognizes individuals who demonstrate vision, innovation, collaboration and a strong commitment to customers.
Under Coutinho's leadership, Enwave has recently delivered several major projects that highlight the value of district energy in Ontario's energy system:
- Expanded Enwave's Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) system through the construction of a fourth intake pipe, increasing the system's cooling capacity by approximately 60%. The DLWC system eliminates approximately 50 MW of electrical demand relative to a business-as-usual commercial office chiller plant.
- Commissioned the Enwave Green Heat™ Plant at Pearl Street Energy Centre, where large-scale heat pumps recover waste heat from district cooling customers and reuse it to provide low-carbon heat to other district-connected buildings. The facility can also reduce its grid electricity draw by up to approximately 6 MW during peak demand periods by dispatching non-electrical, on-site energy sources, without interrupting hot water service.
- Developed a large-scale thermal battery at The Well, a mixed-use development in downtown Toronto, which stores heating and cooling energy for use when it delivers the greatest benefit to customers and the electricity system.
“I’m honoured to receive this recognition from the OEA, and proud to share it with the Enwave team. Their expertise and commitment, together with the collaboration of our customers and partners, make these achievements possible,” said Carlyle Coutinho, CEO of Enwave and past Chair of the International District Energy Association. “District energy has an important role to play as the need for reliable, affordable and secure clean energy grows in Ontario and around the world. By recovering heat, storing energy and sharing it across buildings, we can deliver cost-effective heating and cooling while helping ease demand on the electricity grid.”
As electricity demand and building electrification grow, Ontario will need solutions that make more efficient use of existing and new energy infrastructure. By serving multiple buildings through shared equipment, recovering otherwise wasted heat from hospitals, data centres and other district cooling customers, and shifting electricity use away from peak periods, district energy offers a practical path to electrifying heating and cooling.
Looking ahead, Enwave is bringing its district energy model to more communities. In 2027, the company plans to commission two new systems in Ontario, at Lakeview Village in Mississauga and the Etobicoke Civic Centre in Toronto, extending district heating and cooling to new customers while supporting grid reliability. Enwave is also constructing an upgraded energy-from-waste facility in Prince Edward Island, intended to double the waste processing capacity of its existing district energy system there.
About Enwave
Enwave is one of the largest commercial owners and operators of community-based district energy systems in North America. The company develops reliable energy solutions at scale, tailored to the unique needs of municipalities, commercial developments, universities, hospitals, data centres and residential communities. Enwave provides thermal energy services to over 100 million square feet of mixed-use space across Canada using technologies including Deep Lake Water Cooling, waste heat recovery, thermal storage, geoexchange, biomass and energy-from-waste. Enwave is owned by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and IFM Investors, which acquired the company in 2021.
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