News

SDTC Supports $16.4M Transactive Energy Network Project

September 20, 2016 by Jeff Shepard

The just-announced $16.4 million Transactive Energy (TE) project includes $5.4 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) will include contributions from a consortium of industry and utility partners including: Opus One, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Smarter Grid Solutions, the Centre for Urban Energy (CUE) at Ryerson University, Nova Scotia Power, Emera Maine, and Toronto Hydro. Opus One is leading this multi-utility project that will drive the development of technology to improve the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as wind, solar, and battery storage into the existing electricity grid at three utilities in Canada and the US.

This TE project will see the development of new features in Opus One's GridOS® real-time intelligent energy networking platform. The project will demonstrate the use of technical and economic signals to manage the exchange of electricity within an electric power system, supporting innovation in power generation which is one of SDTC's target industries. The project also supports SDTC's mandate to mitigate the impact of climate change, and also benefits SDTC's clean air initiative.

"Sustainable Development Technology Canada is very proud to support the commercialization of Opus One Solutions' innovative technology," said Leah Lawrence, SDTC President and Chief Executive Officer. "This project will create green jobs for the local economy, increase efficiency in the sector, and provide economic and environmental benefits for all Canadians."

"We are pleased with the recognition and financial support from SDTC for this new demonstration. It allows us to work with modern utilities to demonstrate the modularity and scalability of our technology solution," said Joshua Wong, CEO and President of Opus One. "This funding reinforces Opus One's position as an innovative software provider creating a transactive energy network in both Canadian and US markets."

In recent years there has been significant interest by customers, utilities, and regulatory bodies to increase the number of distributed renewable energy technologies deployed onto the grid to improve reliability and resiliency, and to reduce carbon emissions. Recognizing the operational barriers to adoption on existing infrastructure, Opus One's GridOS, a real-time intelligent energy networking platform efficiently and economically connects, manages, and optimizes DERs.

Working with progressive utilities, this project is designed to demonstrate a smart and integrated TE network that will enable DERs to be integrated both technically and financially into electric power systems. The project will demonstrate a Nova Scotia Power feeder-based microgrid, featuring wind resources with grid-scale and residential storage systems; a combined storage and solar microgrid at Emera Maine's Hampden Operations Center; and a DER management demonstration at Toronto Hydro.