Toronto: A pole-mounted energy storage system located in Toronto’s North York neighbourhood is showing positive results in the early stages of a pilot program, Toronto Hydro announced July 4.
Credit: Toronto Hydro
Put into service in August 2016, the 15 kilowatt, lithium-ion battery storage system is mounted to the top of an existing hydro pole. The system stores energy during off-peak hours and releases power as needed, typically during periods of peak demand, relieving strain on the local transformer, which is reaching the end of its scheduled 30- to 40-year lifetime. Toronto Hydro expects that, once the prototype has proven itself, it can be produced in numbers large enough to keep in stock and extend the lifetime of existing grid infrastructure by up to five years. This could be applied to approximately 2% of the more than 175,000 poles across the city.
In a phone conversation, Generation Planning and System Studies Lead Gary Thompson provided some details on the system. Currently, in single-family residence parts of the city, Toronto Hydro has one transformer mounted on every ten poles. The plan would be to mount one storage unit for every five transformers. The devices would mostly help support voltage and frequency to maintain power quality on the line. However, in case of a power emergency the stored energy could also be directed to provide two to three hours of support to a single household with, for example, some must-run medical equipment.
Provincially funded, the program started as an R&D initiative through the Smart Grid fund under the Ministry of Energy. The project is being led by Ryerson University’s Centre for Urban Energy. The unit was built by eCamion, and supported through the installation, monitoring and operation by Toronto Hydro. Once in regular production, unit price is expected to run around $15,000 to $20,000.
The pilot is planned to run for another year, though enough data has already been collected to permit design of a second version. Full rollout would be in about three years.
Aside from this pilot, unique in the world Mr. Thompson says, Toronto Hydro has several other storage installations under way: a 500 kW unit at the operations centre at 500 Commissioners Street and a 4MW / 8 MWh installation nearby at 440 Commissioners Street under contract with the IESO. Another two or three similar installations, all lithium-ion, are planned.