Selected by Ontario Power Authority as one of only 3 Aggregators for Peaksaver Program
Chatham-Kent Hydro has taken the first steps toward implementing the “smart grid” within its service territories. The smart grid forum report was released in February followed by the Ontario government’s introduction of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, which is designed to grow the smart grid, encourage conservation and enable the growth of renewable energy projects and a green economy.
The smart grid is an advanced information exchange and control system that will improve the flexibility, security and safety of the integrated power and distribution systems in this province. It will also allow for the integration into the Ontario electrical grid of intermittent energy generators such as wind and solar.
“We are very excited to be on the leading edge of the movement toward a smart grid,” says Dave Kenney, President of Chatham-Kent Hydro. “This will increase the reliability and efficiency of our overall distribution system.”
Dan Charron, Director of Engineering and Technical Services of Chatham-Kent Hydro, says, “The smart grid will also enable us to shed load during peak or critical periods when electricity may be at very high prices. We began to think about smart grid when we chose our smart meter system back in 2005. We wanted a system that would become a backbone of a smart grid system.”
As part of their first efforts to establish the smart grid, Chatham-Kent Hydro has implemented the Tantalus TUNet smart meter solution to all its residential customers. The benefits of the Tantalus TUNet smart meter system are that it provides:
- hourly meter reads,
- voltage and power quality analysis,
- the ability to enable our customers to respond to new pricing options, such as time-of-use information that will improve the efficiency of the distribution system, and
- real-time two-way communication that allows control of load and, in the future, small-scale generation and usage.
The Ontario Power Authority chose Chatham-Kent Hydro as one of only three companies designated as Aggregators of the Peaksaver program. This program offers customers the opportunity to sign up to have their air conditioning controlled during peak periods of power usage when prices are highest. Chatham-Kent Hydro’s program uses its Smart Meter Communications system to control these switches, which are mounted on the customer’s air conditioning unit. This exceptional program can also be expanded in the future to manage on-site generation on a customer’s premises.
“Chatham-Kent Hydro is respected for being one of the first utilities in Ontario to interface the smart meter data with their GIS system,” says Eric Murray, President of Tantalus Systems. “This allows them increased efficiency when managing their distribution system.”
|
