Ottawa cleantech company Thermal Energy International has secured two contracts worth a combined $4.7 million in repeat business with international clients. The company, which specializes in products that capture and recycle energy from boiler plants and steam operations, announced a $3.2-million project with an Illinois-based frozen food manufacturer last month, followed quickly by a $1.7-million […]
Already an Insider? Log in
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.
- Critical Ottawa business news and analysis updated daily.
- Immediate access to all Insider-only content on our website.
- 4 issues per year of the Ottawa Business Journal magazine.
- Special bonus issues like the Ottawa Book of Lists.
- Discounted registration for OBJ’s in-person events.
Ottawa cleantech company Thermal Energy International has secured two contracts worth a combined $4.7 million in repeat business with international clients.
The company, which specializes in products that capture and recycle energy from boiler plants and steam operations, announced a $3.2-million project with an Illinois-based frozen food manufacturer last month, followed quickly by a $1.7-million contract with a multinational building materials company. Thermal Energy, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange, declined to name the clients involved.
The frozen food project marks the second heat recovery installation for the same client. Thermal Energy completed a $1-million project for the company in 2024 that included only design and equipment supply, not installation.
CEO William Crossland said the client has aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction targets across its global operations.
“With over 40 manufacturing sites around the world, we see very good potential with this customer,” Crossland said in a news release. “The food and beverage sector continues to be the largest source of business for Thermal Energy.”
Robert Triebe, chief operating officer at Thermal Energy, said the company’s technology recovers substantially more heat than traditional methods. “This is deep heat recovery or condensing heat recovery. It typically impacts energy usage and carbon emissions by eight to 12 per cent,” he told OBJ.
The contract with the building materials company follows a $1-million turnkey project with the same client in July at a different site.
“We initially went to one of this customer’s sites to develop a project and that led to assessing projects at multiple sites,” Triebe said. “This is the second order from that assessment.”
Both contracts originated from project development agreements, where Thermal Energy conducts paid assessments of client facilities to identify energy-efficiency opportunities.
Thermal Energy has secured nearly $20 million in contracts since October.
“The biggest difference is efficiency, driven by accumulated systems and expertise from previous custom projects,” Triebe said. “We rely on experienced subcontractors available in North America and Europe and we practise slow growth.”
Thermal Energy announced results for its first quarter last October. For the three months ended Aug. 31, 2025, the company reported that order intake had increased 323 per cent to $11.9 million. Revenue decreased 19 per cent to $6.9 million but was 32 per cent higher than the year-ago period 119 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2023. The company remained profitable, with adjusted EBITDA of $350,000 and net income of $166,000.
Thermal Energy is a fully accredited professional engineering firm with offices in Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Bristol, U.K., and sales offices in half-a-dozen countries.