Projects Funded

Since its inception, the Grid Innovation Fund has supported a variety of projects – ranging from the development of new technologies to help balance the grid, to programs designed to increase customer engagement in energy efficiency. The Fund takes innovative ideas from partners and turning them into knowledge that enables the enhanced reliability, sustainability and resilience of the provincial electricity system.

A 3rd party analysis of Grid Innovation Fund projects showed that if these innovative technologies were to be adopted more widely across the province, they could reduce costs to Ontario’s energy system and customers by half a billion dollars.

Grid Innovation Fund Reporting

Below is a collection of reports and third party evaluations that outline the progress, success and learnings of completed and ongoing projects:

Joint Targeted Call Interim Report: The OEB’s Innovation Sandbox and the IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund held a joint targeted call for innovative proposals on DER integration, focusing on projects that test the capabilities of DERs in providing grid services at both the local and provincial levels.

Active Projects Directory

The table below provides recent Grid Innovation Fund projects. Filter by project category, or order by proponent name or year. Download its project brief to learn more. For a complete list of project investments by the Grid Innovation Fund and its predecessor funds, please see the Grid Innovation Fund Portfolio.

Grid Innovation Fund Reporting

Below is a collection of reports and third party evaluations that outline the progress, success and learnings of completed and ongoing projects:

Joint-Targeted Call Interim Report: The OEB’s Innovation Sandbox and the IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund held a joint targeted call for innovative proposals on DER integration, focusing on projects that test the capabilities of DERs in providing grid services at both the local and provincial levels.

SHOW ME

All Projects

Electrification / Decarbonization

Enabling Non-wires Alternatives

Enhancing Forecasting and Planning

Infrastructure Resilience

Wholesale Market Integration

Proponent	Year	Project Description	Project Documents	Category	Status
BluWave-ai	2021	EV Everywhere The project results are expected to reduce peak demand and inform potential deferral of future infrastructure upgrades. It will create a framework for Hydro Ottawa to participate in the EV market creatively, leveraging the investment in EVs to provide distribution non-wires solutions in the form of demand response and demonstrate the effectiveness of pairing this strategy with front-of-meter (FOM) batteries with dispatchable injection capabilities.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives, Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Enel X Canada Ltd.	2022	Unlocking Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Participation Across Ontario Enabling and aggregating heterogenous behind the meter resources in the IESO administered markets (IAMs) with improved and streamlined participation models Ability to measure and verify performance from heterogeneous, Distributed Energy Resource (DER) aggregations with alternative measurement approaches not used today in Ontario, where resources participating in the pilot include behind-the-meter (BTM) battery storage and/or load curtailment located at 13 sites across Ontario.	Project Brief	Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Essex Powerlines Corporation	2021	Essex Powerlines DSO Pilot Project Key outcomes of this project include a deeper understanding of a Distribution System Operator (DSO) structure in Ontario and the running of a local electricity market, the performance of DERs and DER aggregations, and their ability to reliably meet real, local needs and simulated wholesale needs by local and IESO Market Rules, transmission-distribution coordination processes, the value of DERs as non-wires alternatives to mitigate local and bulk level constraints while deferring traditional infrastructure upgrades, and the level of engagement and interest from DER asset owners to provide grid services.	Project Brief	Wholesale Market Integration, Infrastructure Resilience	Active
Toronto Transit Comission	2022	TTC Wayside Renewable Energy Storage for Subway Wayside Energy Storage System can potentially reduce existing demand on the grid in a dense urban environment where resiliency issues arise. The trend towards decarbonization and challenges exacerbate the situation due to the difficulty of new sources of supply or major transmission feeder installation. By recapturing currently lost energy and smoothing the power demand, the system could free up existing capacity for cost savings to the TTC.	Project Brief	Electrification/Decarbonisation	Active
PowerON Energy Solutions LP	2022	Battery Storage for Electric Bus Charging, Demand Reduction and Grid Services Behind-the-meter battery storage and smart charging management will provide backup power, global adjustment savings, distribution system upgrade deferral and provision of demand reduction grid services.	Project Brief	Electrification/Decarbonisation	Active
Toronto Hydro	2022	Benefit Stacking Transmission and Distribution System Non-Wires Alternatives Pilot Project The result of the project will create a process for better coordination between Toronto Hydro and the IESO in the deployment of Local Demand Response (LDR) capacity to address target constraints at both the distribution system and bulk-system levels of the electricity grid. The success of this project will lower capacity and Capacity Auction clearing prices, increase DER proliferation and allow for improved IESO planning and distribution system planning.	Project Brief	Transmission-Distribution Coordination, Non-Wires Alternatives, Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Leapfrog Energy Technologies Inc.	2019	PROEMPO – Proactive Energy Management and Performance Optimization Develop a low cost, open standard, scalable, and accurate tool for industrial and mining facilities to reduce energy and optimize the performance of air compressors, pumps, fans and motor-driven equipment.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
Newmont (formerly Goldcorp)	2018	Distributed Underground Air Compressors Demonstration Pilot small distributed air compressors to achieve compressed air needs in mines using 50% less energy compared to a conventional central surface compressor plant with the associated underground distribution. Create wider implementation within and beyond Ontario and enhance the case for building new mines or converting existing mines to all electric.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
NRStor Inc.	2018	Local Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Integration and Rental Program Pilot Deploying behind-the-meter energy storage in an electrically constrained urban neighbourhood and make energy storage affordable for homeowners while providing valuable services to the local and provincial electricity system.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Open
Opus One and Marshall Homes Microgrid	2018	Smart Energy Community Microgrid Project Develop a microgrid that includes 27 townhouses supported by a battery storage system, rooftop solar panels, an EV charging station and software platform. The project will provide feeder visibility to the local utility to monitor and optimize microgrid resources in real-time to provide grid benefits.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
Opus One Solutions	2018	Transactive Energy Network for Clean Generation, Energy Storage, Electric Vehicle Demonstrate the feasibility of resource-agnostic DERs in market-based approach to unlock the value to the distribution and bulk systems while coordinating with local system safety constraints, enhancing market efficiency, and system reliability.	Project Brief	Wholesale Market Integration	Completed
Pollution Probe	2020	Advancing Community Energy Planning Alignment & Implementation Provide a community energy planning framework that will convene municipalities, IESO, electric and gas utilities, businesses, building owners, and other stakeholders to develop and test an effective and repeatable approach for Ontario communities to achieve benefits of lower energy costs for residents and all ratepayers.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning, Electrification / Decarbonization	Completed
Survalent	2020	Energy Management Platform for Autonomous and Multi-Market Participation of DERs Establish a framework and a real-time information platform that aggregates the LDCs’ Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) data to increase autonomous and market participation for distributed energy resources (DERs). Inform a business case for LDCs on how they can plan and invest to integrate DERs into distribution systems to meet current and future needs.	Project Brief	Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Thorn Associates	2020	Artificial Intelligence – enabled Industrial Energy Management Information System Opportunity for the use of AI-driven Energy Management Information System (EMIS) at industrial facilities by proving energy consumption savings and peak demand reduction at the demonstration site of 10%, and bill savings of 10% that will improve over time.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
City of Toronto	2020	Zero Emissions Roadmap Discover the pathway to a GHG-emissions-free building sector by 2050 through engagement and input of 40+ stakeholders from the sector through a series of workshops. The findings will be adaptable by any Ontario city, given the mix of building types involved in the project.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
University of Windsor	2019	Powering Greenhouse Sector Expansion with Distributed Energy Resource Solutions Reduce reliance on grid supplied electricity and enable the deferral of costly transmission infrastructure construction, and mitigate additional electricity costs.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning	Completed
University of Western Ontario	2020	Use of Hydrogen Peroxide to Reduce Aeration Energy Demand in Wastewater Treatment Plants Demonstrates the energy savings in the wastewater treatment industry by adding hydrogen peroxide to biological wastewater treatment.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Completed
Allegro Acres Inc.	2020	Lighting Strategies to Reduce Peak Demand and Improve Energy Efficiency in Greenhouses Demonstrate the effectiveness of lighting strategies to improve energy efficiency while maintaining or improving crop growth and yield. The project will be piloted with 2 independent enclosed greenhouses in the Leamington-Essex area and will evaluate the performance of low intensity lighting and controls.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
Ameresco Canada	2019	Carbon Free Embedded Microgrid Energy System Design, build and operate a carbon-free microgrid at John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in London, ON that is expected to provide all of the school’s heating, cooling and electricity needs. The goals are to operate the school with zero GHG emissions and to evaluate the “Energy as Service” business model for microgrid development and the benefits of participating in IESO’s administered markets.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives, Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Elocity Technologies	2020	Hyper Integrated Electric Vehicles Platform Integrate an end-to-end AI-powered solution that provides the data and control needed to manage EV electricity demand. The pilot aims to demonstrate the value of an interoperable and secure digital platform for LDCs to understand, visualize and predict EV power demand, including peak load reduction/shifting and cost savings for EV drivers.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
Essex Powerlines	2019	DER and EV Visibility Tool Enhance the SmartMAP software, which is a geospatial load analysis tool used by utilities, to enable visibility to EVs and DERs and their impact on distribution system assets. The software enhancements will add detection algorithms that allow for EV charging loads to be automatically identified, improving both visibility and data analysis.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning	Active
Hydratek	2019	Reducing Municipal Water Loss and Energy Consumption Through the development and deployment of a mobile testing unit, this project will provide a cost-effective solution to identify municipal water leakages, test the impact of pressure management strategies on reducing leakages, and quantify the associated energy and cost savings for municipalities and their residents.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
Innovia GEO Corp.	2018	Pile-Integrated Geo-Exchange System for Geothermal Heating and Cooling Demonstration of an innovative geothermal solution integrating a geo-exchange system into a helical steel pile at a transformer station in Waterloo. The system consists of a conventional geo-exchange ground loop as well as a geo-exchange pile array to enable a side-by-side comparison of the heating and cooling performance of the two systems.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
JDRF Electromag Engineering Inc.	2019	Autonomy Sensor for Smart Lighting Demonstration of a system of fixture-mounted autonomy sensors that would provide smart lighting energy savings. The autonomy sensors could reduce costs of smart light adoption and eliminate all design, set up and maintenance work done before, during and after deployment.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives, Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
Peak Power	2020	Feeder Level Forecasting and Data Disaggregation for DER Identification Develop a distribution level forecasting tool, that will include energy profile pattern recognition, to improve visibility into DERs and electric vehicles. The forecasting tool would identify the location of electric vehicle charging stations and other consumer-owned DERs and forecast their impact on demand peaks.	Project Brief	Enhancing Forecasting and Planning	Active
Powerconsumer	2020	Finding Value in Local Energy Markets Develop a software platform that could facilitate transactions between DER owners, or DER aggregators, and local utilities. The platform would be used to simulate the operation of a future local energy market within the Newmarket Tay and Elexicon service territories, and estimate the energy, cost and reliability benefits of using local resources to meet local need.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
Region of Waterloo	2020	Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) Demonstration at Wastewater Treatment Plant Replace the existing aeration equipment at the Hespeler Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cambridge, Ontario, with MABR technology to reduce electricity and demand consumption. The project will conduct measurement and verification to quantify the energy and demand savings and greenhouse gas reduction resulting from the MABR technology.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
Sky Clean Energy	2020	Optimal Vehicle-to-Grid Charging System considering solar, storage and user privacy Develop a public facing, V2G enabled, distributed ledger technology based charging system that aggregates multiple on-site DERs (storage and solar) to participate in demand response events. The project aims to develop best practices for an interoperable, scalable and secure V2G model for Ontario, while delivering energy savings and peak load reduction.	Project Brief	Wholesale Market Integration	Active
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority	2019	Small and Medium Enterprises Unite to Fast Track Strategic Energy Management This project will demonstrate a Community of Practice program model for industrial sector small-to-medium enterprises to learn about and adopt long-lasting and high impact energy efficiency measures.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
IPEX Technologies Inc.	2020	Double Vortex Aerator Demonstrate that installing the double vortex aerator would result in approximately 15%-30% of energy savings at the lagoon.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization	Active
Great Lakes Greenhouses Inc.	2019	Energy Efficient Autonomous Greenhouse Demonstrate the application of an intelligent autonomous agent controlling a greenhouse with the objective of reducing the energy footprint of the facility without negatively impacting crop yield.	Project Brief	Electrification / Decarbonization, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Active
EnerQuality	2019	Net Zero TAP Pilot Increase penetration of new net-zero technologies into mainstream new housing by engaging individual builders to pilot new net-zero technologies. The result is a technology adoption model that can be replicated across the province and integrated into future conservation programming.	Project Brief	Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives	Completed