Ontario’s Smart Grid Forum: Recommendations

In its report, the Ontario Smart Grid Forum outlines a series of steps that are needed to continue the development of smart grid capabilities in the province. Their recommendations highlight areas that require further government or industry attention.

Smart Homes

• Ontario is a world leader in the implementation of advanced metering and variable pricing.  Almost every home and small business in Ontario has a smart meter, with almost two million consumers currently paying time-of-use rates, a number that is increasing every week.
• Smart meters are only a first step. There are on the horizon a wide range of tools and services that will provide consumers with greater control over their energy use.  Home energy management systems, smart appliances, a greater variety of demand response programs as well as different pricing options have the potential to allow consumers to use electricity in ways that better suit their needs.
• The Forum’s Smart Home Roadmap (www.ieso.ca/smarthomeroadmap) shows how in-home technologies could evolve over the next 20 years. In only a few years, smart home technologies will be embedded in many household appliances, allowing consumers to collect real-time information about their energy use and respond to price signals.  By 2030, the level of sophistication in the smart home will rise considerably, where the home, appliances, electric cars and in-home generation will interact seamlessly, using electricity as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
• The Forum has called on the Ontario government to conduct annual surveys to gauge consumer interest in smart technologies in the home.
  
  

Electric Vehicles

• The provincial government anticipates that one out of every 20 cars in Ontario will in some way be powered by electricity by 2020.  Electric vehicles are, however, not expected to have a meaningful impact on the grid for at least another three to five years, according to research by the University of Waterloo.
  
• Electric vehicles have the potential to offer significant benefits to the grid – drawing electricity from the system during the lowest demand times and making better use of the electrical infrastructure.  In future, electric vehicles may be used to store energy that could potentially be injected back into the grid during peak hours.
  
• There could be considerable stress on distribution networks if too many car owners charge their vehicles during peak periods.  The Ontario Smart Grid Forum recommends that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation track electric vehicle registration, to help local distribution companies identify potential areas where distribution networks may be stressed so they can plan appropriate upgrades.

Storage

• The ability to store significant amounts of electricity will provide numerous benefits to the system – particularly when it comes to managing greater levels of wind and solar power in the provincial supply mix.  Excess energy produced at periods of low demand could simply be stored until it’s needed most.
  
• There are many different types and sizes of energy storage – each with different applications.   At the Sir Adam Beck facility in Niagara, there is a 200 MW facility where water is pumped into a reservoir and used to generate electricity during peak hours.  Other forms of storage include batteries, flywheels, compressed air, thermal storage and fuel-cell technologies.  Some forms of demand response can also use storage technologies.
  
• The Forum recommends that the Ontario Power Authority, the Independent Electricity  System Operator, in consultation with industry and the OEB, develop a framework to promote the integration of distributed energy storage where it is cost-effective.
  
  

Standards

• The success of the smart grid will depend on how its various components connect and work together.  Broadly accepted standards are key for the development of innovative products and services, as well the cost-effective deployment of infrastructure.  Ontario’s leading position in smart grid deployment has proceeded in advance of industry standards development.
  
• The Forum is calling on the industry to follow recommendations on standards forthcoming from the Canadian National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  Various members of the Forum are actively involved in the IEC’s Canadian National Committee through its Task Force on Smart Grid Technology and Standards.  By co-ordinating on standards adoption, Ontario’s utilities and private sector interests will be better positioned to ensure an effective and interoperable smart grid, as well as offer Ontario-made products and services in the international marketplace.

• The flow of customer information through the electricity system will increase exponentially with the advent of smart grid technologies.  While this information is designed to promote a more efficient and cost-effective electricity use, there are risks if this information were used without the consent of the customer.
  
• The Forum is recommending to the broader industry that they adopt the “Privacy by Design” principles set out by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner – which call for privacy principles to be embedded in the core design of all smart grid applications.
• The report also recommends that the Commissioner track all smart-grid related complaints with respect to how utilities and third parties use personal electricity consumption information.

 

• The sheer volume of information flowing from the smart grid will pose a challenge for local utilities.  With equipment monitoring system status, power quality and flows, or even temperatures every second of the day, some estimate the amount of data collected by utilities will increase nine-fold.
  
• This data holds tremendous value if it is properly analyzed and used for infrastructure planning and system optimization.  As a result, the Forum is calling for common standards for information sharing that will enable the secure exchange and processing of data.

• In the smart grid environment, energy companies would use hourly consumption data to develop new offerings such as demand response programs, energy storage services, EV charging packages and customized time-of-use rate plans.
  
• The Forum is calling for the development of a test bed environment that would allow utilities and third-parties to test new applications against LDC systems to ensure they are interoperable.
• The OEB has indicated that it will soon consider the practical issues surrounding the opening up of access to hourly smart metering and real-time data for licensed retailers, who can already access their customers’ total consumption data for billing purposes.  The Forum and its corporate partners will explore barriers to facilitating third-party access to electricity consumers and their consumption information and what provisions are needed to ensure customer privacy.