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.
Active Projects Directory
The table below shows currently active Grid Innovation Fund projects. Filter by project category, or order by proponent name or project title. Download its fact sheet 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.
SHOW ME
| Proponent | Title | Project Description | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ameresco Canada |
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. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives and Wholesale Market Integration |
|
|
Elocity Technologies |
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. |
Enhancing Forecasting and Planning and Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives |
|
|
Essex Powerlines |
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. |
Enhancing Forecasting and Planning |
|
|
NRStor Inc. |
5MW Clear Creek Non-Wires Alternative Merchant Battery Project |
Develop Canada's first fully-merchant grid-scale energy storage facility, using an existing Hydro One grid-connection. Learnings include merchant IESO market participation, non-wires alternatives value and feeder level optimization for bill savings and reliability benefits. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives and Wholesale Market Integration |
|
Opus One and Marshall Homes Microgrid |
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. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives |
|
|
Peak Power |
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. |
Enhancing Forecasting and Planning |
|
Peak Power |
Vehicle to Home for Improved Rural Reliability and Peak Reduction |
Demonstrate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of V2H technology for improving grid reliability for residential customers by providing back-up power during outages, including the modelling of participation in IESO Administered Markets. |
Infrastructure Resilience |
|
Powerconsumer |
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. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives |
|
|
Sky Clean Energy |
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. |
Wholesale Market Integration |
|
Region of Waterloo |
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. |
Electrification / Decarbonization |
|
Allegro Acres Inc. |
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. |
Electrification / Decarbonization, Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives |
|
Hydratek |
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. |
Electrification / Decarbonization |
|
|
Innovia GEO Corp. |
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. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives |
|
JDRF Electromag Engineering Inc. |
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. |
Enabling Non-Wires Alternatives, Electrification / Decarbonization |
|
|
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority |
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. |
Electrification / Decarbonization |