Elexicon Energy Builds Canada’s First Preplanned Nested Microgrid Community

Electricity Canada: The Grid 2022

Edyta McKay

Manager, Public Affairs and Communications, Elexicon Energy

A few years ago, the Greater Toronto Area and Durham-based utility, Elexicon Energy, unveiled its plan for a fully functioning preplanned microgrid community of the future. The idea was to test, develop and launch the next generation of technologies that could turn electricity distribution systems into modern, digitally-enabled grids. These modern, smart microgrid communities could provide residents, and critical service providers, with backup power when the grid fails, as well as support rooftop solar, battery storage and electric vehicles.

With support from Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and the provincial government, and in partnership with Opus One and developer Marshall Homes, Elexicon created Altona Towns in the City of Pickering, just east of Canada’s largest city. With about 45 thousand new residential homes built in Ontario each year, the project went live this past summer. As the first project of its kind in Canada, the community includes a rooftop solar, lithium-ion battery energy storage, electric vehicle charging stations, innovative smart metering system for community use, and an integrated distribution energy service platform to control and coordinate the components of the microgrid.

The project is the culmination of four years of planning, implementation, and technology and equipment installation and will demonstrate how microgrids can benefit homeowners while reducing the amount of electricity needed from the grid, helping make the provincial electricity system more affordable. It will also provide homeowners with increased energy resiliency and reliability, especially during power outages, while also offering an exciting alternative to conventional sources for power that are cleaner, economical, and adaptable to future climate change impacts.

Electricity Canada: The Grid 2022

Elexicon Energy will gather data from the transmission station down to the local community, using Opus One’s distributed energy management software platform, GridOS. These learnings will help us understand how and when electricity is used, and how willing homeowners are to shift their energy consumption habits.

The software has been integrated into Elexicon Energy’s electricity distribution operations, incorporating microgrid-assisted feeder automation capabilities to enable automated control features such as peak shaving, load shifting, backup power, demand response, voltage control and renewable power integration.

With decarbonization and digitization as key goals for local distribution companies, Elexicon Energy is hoping this project could serve as a model for utilities and communities across the country.

The vision is to get a better handle on how practically and tangibly distributed energy resources can keep the lights on during an emergency, increase the grid’s capacity for solar, batteries and EV chargers while keeping power bills low for homeowners, and at the same time giving them more choice on power generation and control on consumption.