Smart Grid Pilot in Nova Scotia
The Power Forward Challenge brought together a consortia of Canadian and UK companies to develop innovative smart grid solutions. With our Canadian partners, StorTera’s ‘Alba Nova’ team were the eventual winners of the $1m grand prize for the most innovative smart grid demonstration.
Project Details
Customer
Berwick Electric Commission
Location
Town of Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada
Project Value
>£2m
Project Title
Power Forward Challenge
Sector
CommercialResidential
Project Completion
2022-03-01
Partners
Equilibrium Engineering, Town of Berwick, Dalhousie University
Solution
System Components
Customer Challenge
Clean energy benefits for all
One of the key challenges in the energy transition is how the grid can handle rapid electrification of a diverse range of energy resources that it has little to no visibility or control of. Customers want the freedom to generate and consume renewable energy, electrify heating and transport while managing energy bills. Renewables and energy storage offer benefits to the grid and commercial, industrial and domestic users, but they are difficult to optimise, prioritise and share in a scalable model. We set out to address the challenge of how to rapidly deploy and scale new energy assets with a viable business model for both the customers and grid operator that provides an alternative to expensive grid infrastructure upgrades.
StorTera formed close relationships with Canadian partners Equilibrium Engineering and the Renewable Energy Storage Laboratory (RESL) at Dalhousie University to design and deliver the highly innovative smart grid.
By focusing on the needs of the consumer first and then leveraging benefits for the local grid operator Berwick Electric Commission, all stakeholders were able to share the benefits of increased renewable energy penetration.
Our approach combined electrifying heating, adding renewable generation with smart residential and commercial-scale energy storage, converting electrical loads to flexible loads, and introducing innovative systems for the grid to absorb more renewable energy through StorTera’s TRAICON energy management platform.
Solution
Scalable smart grid
The StorTera team, as Technical Lead of the project, devised the overall system architecture to enable the innovative smart grid to become a reality. Ten households were selected by Canadian partners Equilibrium Engineering to receive the 5kW/20kWh StorTower battery systems; each household also received a tailored package of efficiency upgrades including solar PV, improved insulation & heat pumps depending on their needs. The two 250kW/500kWh commercial StorHub systems, also supplied by StorTera, are sited at Berwick Town Hall and the ice hockey rink. In total they provide 525kW of dispatchable power for over 2 hours with the capacity for up to 600kW of controllable loads.
StorTera’s TRAICON energy management platform is used to control and manage the battery assets, providing benefits to customers through maximising their consumption of solar energy, using low tariff grid energy, and providing backup during outages. The systems also support the grid by helping reduce the town’s peak demand and improve the small utility’s ability to absorb generation from the local hydro scheme and a nearby wind farm which provides 40% of the town’s electricity.
The project showed a less than 5 year payback for the assets and a 29% reduction in energy costs due to AI predictions, allowing the small town to decarbonise further whist lowering costs for all stakeholders and enhancing the reliability of the local grid.
Customer Benefits
- Shared grid-customer business model
- Maximum self-consumption of solar PV
- Absorb excess generation from wind farm to minimise curtailment
- Energy arbitrage and use of off-peak tariffs
- Peak shaving (collectively for the grid and the customer)
- Back-up power during outages
Customer Satisfaction
Addressed the needs of both the municipal grid utility and commercial and domestic customers with a cost-effective solution (less than 5-year payback).
Innovation
Use of AI to manage battery charge profile and to predict day-ahead energy demand and solar generation resulted in 29% energy cost savings for customers.
Scalability
Modular software building blocks and our StorHub battery systems used to provide a highly scalable and replicable business model.
Excellence
This project won the CAD$1million grand prize for the best smart grid solution in the Impact Canada Power Forward Challenge.
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