TORONTO, Sept. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Opus One Solutions, a Global Cleantech 100 Company, explores the benefits of a dynamic local energy trading market platform with three local distribution companies (LDCs), and Ontario’s grid operator, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). This pilot project will simulate a local distribution energy market in Ontario that will demonstrate improved customer participation on the grid and electricity cost control. The participating LDCs using Opus One’s GridOS® software in this project include Hydro Ottawa, Toronto Hydro, and Bracebridge Generation.
This pilot project aims to help Ontario explore the economic and technical impacts of creating a localized energy market that would allow LDCs to utilize distributed energy resources (DERs) - such as solar panels, electricity storage, small natural gas-fueled generators, and electric vehicles. If successful, this pilot project would demonstrate the benefits of a dynamic market platform and how it can optimize DERs, develop distribution locational marginal pricing (DLMP) models, and support the evolution of Ontario’s electricity system. Participating LDCs will contribute to this project by hosting the network model developed in this pilot project. The IESO, as the province’s electricity market operator, contributes to this project through its market experience, price signal data, and financial support.
"Ontario businesses and communities are increasingly using technologies like solar panels, energy storage, and demand management tools to meet their own energy needs," says Katherine Sparkes, Director, Innovation, Research and Development at the IESO. "This project joins other pilot projects across the province that the IESO is testing to see how we can organize these resources through local electricity markets, so they can help meet growing electricity demand, improve reliability, and drive down costs.”
GridOS TEMS was deployed in this project to simulate a local and operational transactive energy market. In this simulated market, aggregators submit their bids and offers for registered DER assets in day-ahead and same-day markets. The platform then generates location and time-specific price signals to enable system operators to create coordinated dispatch schedules that allow the grid to continue operating safely, while highlighting the locational value of DER services. This results in the ability for LDCs using the platform to evaluate how DERs can serve load and resolve system constraints through market-based contracts, creating market paths to revenue for DER services based on capacity, energy, and system resiliency.
“The collaboration between Opus One and the LDCs demonstrates a path to market access for DERs through energy system coordination. That coordination results in time and location specific compensation for DERs based on not only utility programs, but also bulk-system programs, and provides a path to societal compensation for carbon abatement,” says Ben Ullman, Product Manager Transactive Energy at Opus One Solutions.
Canada’s goal of net-zero emission by 2050 has strengthened the nation’s commitment to become a global leader by supporting innovative technologies in the energy sector. “Due to the goal, LDCs will need to adapt and adopt these technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach climate action goals. The marketplace developed through this project provides an opportunity for LDCs to empower their customer base to participate in energy transition while ensuring cost consciousness,” stated Hari Subramaniam, Chief of Strategic Growth and Commercial Officer at Opus One Solutions
“Partnerships and collaborations like this help to strengthen the reliability and affordability of Ontario’s electricity system,” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “Through initiatives like the IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund, Ontario will continue to demonstrate our leadership in advancing innovative technologies throughout the energy sector.”
The goal of this project is to demonstrate an attractive market-based revenue model for DERs to provide energy and ancillary services. This results in LDCs being able to provide economical energy services, while ensuring the continued reliable and resilient grid operation that Ontarians expect. Focusing on the network impact of DERs by combining all asset types into a centralized market grants open access to market participants, and more equitable, streamlined cost socialization for the LDC.
“Transactive Energy is important to help our grids be more cost effective and enable more direct customer participation. We aim to support our customers to adopt DERs, to empower them to make energy choices that meet their needs, and to build a more sustainable future,” says Guillaume Paradis, Chief Electricity Distribution Officer at Hydro Ottawa. “Achieving our goals requires innovative strategies, educating the public on the benefits and affordability of DERs, and having a tool to manage energy transactions. Opus One’s GridOS TEMS helps make this possible.”
Vince Kulchycki, COO of Bracebridge Generation, believes that this project is a critical piece of the future. “Our organization is currently looking at DERs, how they will affect the grid, and how they can improve our electricity system. This project is providing solutions that work hand in hand with our assets, offering market access in a way that will benefit our customers.”
The project demonstrates how a focus on value to the grid can remove barriers to DER participation in the grid, resulting in a competitive market that showcases the value of renewable energy and local participation in the energy economy at large.
About Opus One Solutions
Opus One Solutions is a software and solutions company with the vision of a digitalized, decentralized and decarbonized planet. Its intelligent energy network analysis platform, GridOS®, optimizes complex power flows to deliver operational time-frame energy management and integrated planning to distribution utilities and other managers of distributed energy resources. GridOS is modular, scalable, and integrates seamlessly with existing data systems to unlock greater potential for distributed energy resources, including renewable generation, energy storage, and responsive demand.
Visit our page to learn more and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO)
The IESO operates Ontario’s power grid 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ensuring Ontarians receive a reliable and cost-effective source of power when and where they need it. It works with sector partners and engages with communities across Ontario to plan and prepare for the province’s electricity needs now and into the future. The IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund advances innovative opportunities to achieve electricity bill savings for Ontario ratepayers by funding projects that either enable customers to better manage their energy consumption or that reduce the costs associated with maintaining reliable operation of the province’s grid.
Learn more about the IESO and the Grid Innovation Fund.
About Hydro Ottawa
Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. (Hydro Ottawa) is a private company 100 percent owned by the City of Ottawa and whose core businesses are electricity distribution, renewable energy generation, and energy and utility services. Hydro Ottawa owns and operates three primary subsidiary companies: Hydro Ottawa Limited – delivering electricity to more than 346,000 customers in the City of Ottawa and the Village of Casselman; Portage Power – the largest Ontario-based municipally-owned producer of green power that has over 128 megawatts of installed green generation capacity – enough to power 107,000 homes; and Envari – an energy solutions company offering products and services that help reduce energy consumption and costs for municipalities, industrial and commercial clients, and various local distribution companies.
Learn more about Hydro Ottawa
About Toronto Hydro
The Corporation is a holding company which wholly owns two subsidiaries: Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited (THESL) – distributes electricity; and Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. – provides street lighting and expressway lighting services in the City of Toronto.
The principal business of the Corporation and its subsidiaries is the distribution of electricity by THESL, which owns and operates the electricity distribution system for Canada's largest city. Recognized as a Sustainable Electricity Company™ by the Canadian Electricity Association, it has 774,000 customers located in the City of Toronto and distributes approximately 18% of the electricity consumed in Ontario.
Learn more about Toronto Hydro
About Bracebridge Generation
Bracebridge Generation Ltd. is a subsidiary company of Lakeland Holding Ltd. Our company is wholly owned by the municipalities of Bracebridge, Burk’s Falls, Huntsville, Magnetawan, Parry Sound and Sundridge. We are proud of being the first municipality in Canada to generate electricity utilizing water, dating back to 1894.
But we prefer to think of ourselves as more than just a generation company. We are pioneers at an exciting new frontier where renewable energy, waterpower and exploration meet.
Learn more about Bracebridge Generation
For media inquiries about Opus One Solutions, please contact:
Melissa Serrano
Senior Marketing & Communications Manager
Opus One Solutions
Email: mserrano@opusonesolutions.com
647-980-0716
