Windsor, Ontario: The City of Windsor announced August 13 that it would be one of Ontario’s first municipalities to connect its water and waste water systems to state of the art smart grid services in a pilot project being managed by Canadian smart grid innovator, Sempa Power.
The connection of Windsor’s municipal water resources to Sempa’s Ancillary Services Network (ASN), is expected to enable Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator to introduce greater flexibility and efficiency across the province’s grid. The City will benefit financially by utilizing the inherent capacity available in those resources to provide the IESO with ancillary services.
A statement from Sempa says that ”the Ontario government is pursuing the implementation of 21st century smart grid technology to drive conservation and improve the efficiency of the broader electricity system. In line with this initiative, IESO has embarked on a pilot program to identify alternative technologies to enhance system reliability. Sempa Power, a leader in smart grid technologies, has been selected by IESO to work with Ontario’s industrial loads and qualify new options for demand side management.” Water utilities represent one of the largest loads in the province and Sempa is focused on bringing municipal and regional partners to the program.
“It’s exciting to see locally developed smart grid technology being used to deliver greater energy efficiency in our region. As the Windsor Utilities Commission continues to explore the modernization of our energy infrastructure, we recognize that this kind of innovation is essential in Ontario and in energy markets around the world,” said John Stuart, Chief Operating Officer of The Windsor Utilities Commission.
The IESO announced last summer that Sempa Power Systems Ltd. and Hydrogenics Corporation had been selected to participate in an innovative project that will allow large industrial, commercial and institutional electricity consumers to provide a grid-balancing service usually supplied by generators. The Alternative Technologies for Regulation Demonstration Project will test new ways to provide regulation service to Ontario’s electricity market. This service is usually provided by generation facilities with automatic generation control capability, which allows a generator to vary its output automatically in response to signals from the system operator. However, some electricity consumers capable of varying their power demand with the same level of precision may also provide the service.
The goal of the pilot program is to qualify and enable new candidates to participate in, and financially benefit from IESO’s Electricity System Regulation Market. Successful candidates (“Resource Partners”), incur no cost to participate and will be financially rewarded by Sempa Power for participation. Ideal Resource Partners have large electric equipment that operates with a consistent workload and a degree of process flexibility or functional range. Examples include pumps, blowers, chillers, cold storage, boilers, battery stations and generators.
Sempa changed its name to ENBALA Power Networks shortly after these announcements were made.