By Michael Morrison
The Ontario government recently launched the Smart Grid Fund (SGF). The SGF, which will be administered by the Ministry of Energy, will accelerate the growth of the smart grid industry in Ontario through “targeted financial support for projects that advance the development of the smart grid in Ontario and provide economic development opportunities, including the creation of new jobs.”
The government notes that the objectives of the SGF are to build the smart grid industry in Ontario by:
• Developing and advancing the smart grid by advancing one or more of the smart grid objectives in the focus areas of consumer control, power system flexibility and adaptive infrastructure;
• Creating economic development opportunities;
• Reducing risk and uncertainty of investments by enabling utilities and other stakeholders to develop, test and evaluate smart grid technologies and business models.
The government anticipates that the SGF will, among other things, accelerate the commercialization of smart grid technologies and build market competitiveness, ensure a coordinated approach that will focus on the wider provincial benefit of smart grid technologies, and identify potential solutions to the development and deployment of smart gird technologies.
The SGF will accept applications from both individual organizations or from groups of organizations that are established in Ontario, established in Canada or can demonstrate that they will be establishing in Ontario as related to their project. The SGF will also accept multiple applications by the same proponent but each application must be for distinctly different projects.
The SGF has a Capacity Building and a Demonstration category and each application must fall into only one category. The capacity building category will “fund eligible organizations to acquire and operationalize assets for developing and producing smart grid solutions, enhancing Ontario’s capacity to manufacture smart grid products.” To meet eligibility requirements for this category the project must have, among other things, a maximum time frame of four years and a minimum project total of $1.5 million.
To be eligible for the demonstration category, an applicant must collaborate with an electricity utility, or grid operator, with demonstration projects advancing “the development and design of pilot-scale prototypes, facilitate identification of risk, opportunities and costs associated with integrating the technology with the existing Ontario electricity system, as well as identification of risks, opportunities and costs associated with adapting to the smart grid as it develops and be scalable to align with Ontario policy goals.” To meet eligibility requirements for this category the project must have, among other things, a maximum two year time frame and a minimum project total of $500,000.
Examples of projects that will be eligible to receive funding include:
• Home energy management systems and load control devices that integrate with the grid operator;
• Information and communications systems for enhanced gird operations and visibility;
• Microgrid integration and management technologies;
• Distributed generation integration, including monitoring, communication, automation and control technologies;
• Advanced and innovative distribution automation; and
• Projects that focus on innovative grid applications such as smart charging and communication infrastructure to support and manage plug-in vehicles.
More information about the SGF may be found at the following site: http://www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/energy/html/SGF_guidelines.html
— from Energy @ Gowlings
See Feature story: The Smart Grid - What does it mean?