Mariner Partners-owned Shift Energy has reached a deal to roll out its artificial intelligence technology for managing electricity consumption across 10 Toronto area buildings owned by commercial property giant Cadillac Fairview.

Shift’s technology, which Mariner originally backed as an investor in successive funding deals before eventually purchasing the company outright, uses AI to optimize the performance of HVAC — heating, ventilation and air conditioning — systems for large buildings, like university campuses, hospitals and office towers.

Mariner is the 270-person firm founded by former NBTel CEO and Aliant Telecom President Gerry Pond and a cadre of his collaborators. It serves as the umbrella corporation for a basket of other businesses, including Shift and New Brunswick angel investor group East Valley Ventures.

“(Cadillac Fairview) is recognized as a global leader in climate action in the real estate sector, taking clear and decisive steps to cut carbon emissions from its building portfolio,” said Shift Energy general manager Dave Schriver in a statement. “Shift Energy’s solution will support CF in achieving its sustainability goals by cutting energy consumption and carbon emissions from their portfolio’s HVAC system while improving the tenant experience by maintaining consistent heating and cooling.

“This new agreement for 10 sites is SHIFT’s second engagement with CF, and we appreciate their vote of confidence in our HVAC energy efficiency and decarbonization technology.”

Cadillac Fairview, which is based in Toronto, is owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and operates 68 Canadian properties including notable buildings like the Eaton Centre.

The news comes about six months after Mariner and Nova Scotia Business Inc. signed a five year, almost $1 million payroll rebate agreement — the process by which a government subsidizes some of a business’s payroll costs to incentivize job creation.