The Canadian government is investing Ca$900,000 (US$720,000) in two smart grid demonstration projects in Alberta.
Alberta’s largest distribution company FortisAlberta has been awarded $495,000 to support its Waterton Energy Storage project, which is aimed to demonstrate the benefits of utilising battery energy storage systems, solar PV and advanced distribution management systems to address reliability issues faced by customers connected at a location near the end of a long electric distribution feeder.
The town of Waterton is prone to a higher than normal frequency of outages due to its long distance from the nearest substation and the natural terrain in the area. The project will provide islanding capability to the community and resiliency for the town and emergency services during outage situations.
Lethbridge Electric Utility receives $413,250 to enhance its distribution network by using conservation voltage reduction software technology in its metering system to conserve energy and reduce demand on the energy grid. Financial benefits are anticipated for the over 40,000 customers who rely on the network.
The funding for the projects is provided by Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Grid Programme, which in turn is part of the country’s more than $180 billion infrastructure investment programme across energy, transportation and other infrastructure.
“Funding innovative ideas to further lower emissions, increase competitiveness and modernize our energy grids in Canada is how we get to net zero by 2050,” says Seamus O’Regan Jr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources.
The 10-year Smart Grid Programme was launched in 2018 to accelerate the development of smart grids to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate economic and social benefits. The programme is funding $100 million over four years on demonstration and deployment projects.
These two new project funds bring to 19 the number of projects funded to date.
The period from 2023 up to the end of 2027 is allocated to monitor and review the outcomes in order to inform future programme and policy development.
Other Alberta utilties that have received funding from the programme are Epcor and Equs Rea for the deployment of distributed energy management systems and Enmax Power for demonstration of grid monitoring and automation to integrate distributed generation.
