By Ka-Ming Lin, P Eng.
One of the biggest open secrets about Ontario’s power system is energy storage. It is part of Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan, the move to the Smart Grid, and the basis for future developments in reliability and operability of the power system. Despite all of this, storage generally flies below everyone’s radar. Utility scale energy storage is a perfect solution to many of the challenges of Ontario’s energy needs. Being able to inject power during peak demand has its obvious benefits, but Ontario would also benefit from having an "off taker" during periods of low demand. Ontario regularly experiences periods of surplus baseload generation (“SBG”) which occurs when power being produced by baseload units exceeds total demand. In 2011, SBG conditions were such that a nuclear generating unit had to be removed from service on three occasions. The Independent Electricity System Operators (IESO) expects SBG to be an issue beginning in the spring of 2012 until 2015.
Going forward, with the continuing excess of baseload power and a move towards integrating more intermittent renewables, energy storage only becomes more relevant to Ontario’s power mix.
With all these factors in favour of energy storage, it is surprising that there is exactly one utility scale facility in operation in the province. The Sir Adam Beck Pumped Generating Station reverses the normal flow of the Niagara group power stations and pumps water back up into the reservoir. This process allows for more efficient use of water by allowing the station to generate more electricity at times when it is needed.
So why isn’t there more energy storage in Ontario? Ontario’s Smart Grid Forum identifies the problem in their Second Report – “a high price tag”. As the demand for these types of solutions increase and technology continues to develop, the economics become more and more feasible.
Unfortunately, there is currently no clear market framework to integrate storage into the system. Sir Adam Beck PGS works because it was built under a previous market paradigm – but a standalone facility would be hard pressed to operate in Ontario given the current lack mechanisms for these technologies. This has been recognized and recommendations and directives to IESO, Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and Ontario Energy Board have been issued to develop a framework for integrating economical storage into the system. In fact, the Minister of Energy recently stated in an interview with Reuters that the province was "absolutely looking" at adding new technologies, such as energy storage or small wind projects, to the FIT program.
The Ministry of Energy and OPA recently confirmed that Energy Storage will be part of the Feed In Tariff program moving forward. ORTECH has seen significant interest in Energy Storage studies amongst its clients. The opportunity to be a "first mover" appears to be enticing to developers and system operators.
The Ontario government's Feed In Tariff Review recommendations released on March 22 included the development of "a Clean Energy Economic Development Strategy that recognizes Ontario’s strengths and leverages its experience to become a global leader in key areas of the energy sector." Energy storage technology was one of five areas identified as clean energy opportunities that "could generate significant economic gains for the province."
This article was originally published by Ortech, an Ontario-based energy consulting firm. For further information, readers can find them at: www.ortech.ca