The IESO has begun a range of discussions and consultations designed to refine and focus its approach to dealing with innovation. “With new technologies and resources, a more decentralized grid and other changes impacting the electricity system, innovation will be critical to ensuring today’s needs are met, while anticipating and planning for the electricity system of the future,” it explains. Under the general heading of the “Innovation Roadmap,” the initiative has several areas of focus, including the following:
1. Unlock the value of new and existing resources
2. Provide leadership to mitigate emerging cybersecurity risks
3. Increase the transparency and visibility of resources operating on the distribution system
4. Build new capabilities to collect, store, share, analyze and use data
5. Address challenges associated with the growth in intermittent resources, DERs and variable loads on grid operations
6. Inform new distribution system operations and business models to support bulk market efficiency and reliability
7. Prepare for an increase in customer- and LDC-led DER deployment
8. Anticipate and prepare for changing consumer choice
9. Design alternative approaches to provide system resiliency.
The Innovation Roadmap sets out the IESO’s approach to “innovation, areas of focus, and the projects underway to support them – and reduce system costs, deliver more consumer choice, and support greater energy resiliency, security and sustainability.”
The work plan includes the following main components:
Research and white papers
Demonstration and evaluation projects
Capital projects and process improvements
Partnerships and capability building
Standardized DER test cases
A stakeholder engagement is underway on the first round of white papers. The IESO has been clear that this consultation on innovation will be distinct from a related consultation being undertaken by the OEB on innovation. The IESO consultation will stick to areas under the control of the IESO.
To learn more, visit the Innovation Roadmap on the IESO website and see how it is using its unique vantage point on the system “to enable innovation that supports the cost-effectiveness and reliability of the grid.”
See http://www.ieso.ca/Get-Involved/Innovation/Innovation-Roadmap.