5.3 Behind the Meter

Today’s electricity grid is no longer the exclusive domain of traditional electricity utilities supplying electricity to customers in the conventional fashion.

Introduction to the Open-Access System

The electrical grid is becoming a more open-access system that includes new generation, storage, and energy-management options that are situated “behind the electricity meter.” These systems are located within a customer’s home, facility, or property—but are nevertheless integrated within the grid as a whole.

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

The meter used to be a firm and one-way demarcation point. The customer was charged for the electricity that flowed through the meter, and nothing flowed back in the other direction. The utility was not concerned with how the electricity was used. Today, that is changing, mainly because of the growth in distributed energy resources.

DERs

Distributed Energy Resources, or DERs for short, are sources of electricity connected to a local distribution system that can store or generate electricity or adjust consumption.

DERs consist of the array of small-scale energy technologies that are increasingly commonly owned by consumers. They can include the following:

• Rooftop solar panels

• Home batteries

• Electric cars and chargers

• Smart home appliances (washers, dryers, refrigerators, home heating, AC cooling, pool pumps, etc.)

Applications

DERs can talk to each other and respond to grid signals delivered via the internet or smart meters.

They provide localized generation to help offset the need for increased centralized generation and transmission resources.

They also enable customers to adjust their energy use based on electricity pricing and other signals.

In some cases, it may be possible to utilize DERs to go off grid for a short period of time—like the way a microgrid operates—thus improving overall system reliability.

Evolution

An energy evolution is underway as more residential and commercial customers invest in these technologies, putting tremendous energy-management capabilities into the homes and hands of consumers.

It is likely that as prices come down, more people will purchase electric cars, smart appliances, and home energy management systems that can coordinate and control home energy use. This action will not only reduce household power bills but will transform the energy system.

Distribution utilities will have an important role in managing grid connections, as required for these technologies, and may in some instances also become owners and operators of DERs.

Adaptation Challenges

A growing percentage of Canadian electricity is expected to be supplied to the distribution system from DERs, such as rooftop solar and battery storage. In the process, households and businesses will become less reliant on big power stations. This will create challenges for the current electricity system to overcome such as how to manage voltage levels and how to predict supply and demand.

Modernizing the Grid

Canadian utilities are modernizing the grid so that it can cope with the increase of DERs.

Regulation, standards, and testing

Regulations for generation, standards adherence, dependability of household devices, and testing of new software platforms are being updated.

Virtual power plants

DERs have been likened to “virtual power plants” that can be controlled remotely by aggregators and market operators. These virtual power plants can capture the collective potential of varied DERs, like electric vehicles and smart appliances, to help reliably balance supply and demand.

“Peaker” plants

Fossil fuel powered “peaker” plants are used to meet high demand, and solar panels and wind turbines can be disconnected from the grid during periods of overproduction.

Battery energy storage

Battery and other energy storage technologies are now taking the lead and proving to be very efficient and cost effective in providing the solution to many grid challenges.

Storage allows utilities to supply reserve power to effectively reduce energy-demand peaks and to address the intermittent nature of some renewable generation.

Importance of Energy Storage

Energy storage involves capturing electricity when it is produced so that it can be used later. Storage can also include “pre-generation,” whereby a resource, such as water, is kept in storage and run through a hydroelectric station when needed.

Advantages of convenient and economical energy storage include:

• Increased grid flexibility

• Simplified integration of renewables and distributed generation

• Improved power quality

• Limited periods of generation asset overload

• Continued service in the event of a power outage

Energy Storage Methods

Today, energy storage technologies are the key to modernizing the electricity system. Scientists and engineers are creating new solutions and modifying existing ones to meet our current and future needs. Electricity companies in Canada are committed to staying at the forefront of this emerging opportunity.

Hydro reservoirs

Canada’s extensive hydro reservoir system uses the natural landscape to store water until it is needed for electricity production.

Pumped hydro

Pumped hydro sites achieve availability benefits by pumping water into a reservoir when electricity demand is low and then draining it through generators to produce electricity when demand is high.

Flow and solid-state batteries

Battery storage applications are being focused on locations along the distribution system where customers are most likely to need additional electricity—primarily as a backup to the main power grid in the case of an outage.

Other energy storage methods include:

• Compressed air

• Flywheels

• Thermal storage

• Superconducting magnetic energy storage

• Electrochemical capacitors

• Hydrogen (including power-to-gas)

Economic Challenge of Energy Storage

The challenge so far has been to store energy economically, but costs are coming down. A 2015 Deutsche Bank report predicted that “the cost of storage will decrease from about 14 cents per kilowatt hour today to about two cents per kilowatt hour.”

Storing energy economically

Economical energy storage has a major impact on the adoption of electric vehicles, residential storage units like the Tesla Powerwall, and utility-scale battery storage applications. Recently, battery prices have dropped rapidly, making electricity storage more viable for households and businesses.

Balancing demand and supply

Charging batteries during off-peak periods and discharging during the peak times of day help balance the demand and supply of electricity locally and nationally.

Managing power quality

Storage can also help manage power quality on the electricity grid, which means the grid can more effectively serve the growing range of devices and machinery powered by electricity.

Integrating renewable energy

Storage can help integrate renewable electricity and can also avoid expensive upgrades to the network. We all benefit from the flexibility electricity storage offers.

Knowledge Check

The cost of energy storage is in fact falling, since the price of batteries is decreasing. Battery storage applications are used primarily as a backup to the main power grid in the case of an outage. Hydro reservoirs use the natural landscape to store water, whereas pumped hydro sites use man-made pumps and reservoirs to store water.

Electric Vehicles

The Canadian transportation sector is responsible for one quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles (EVs) provide the opportunity to decrease this percentage by transitioning from a predominantly fossil-fuel-driven sector to a cleaner electricity-powered future.

Electric Vehicle Sales

In 2020, over 3.5% of vehicles sold in Canada were electric (up from less than 1% in 2016), and the trend is headed in a strongly upward direction.

Sales are highly dependent on financial incentives. British Columbia has the highest share of new zeroemission vehicle sales, with battery-electric and plug-in hybrids accounting for 8.4% of overall vehicle sales. Quebec is next at 6.8%, although nearly half of electric cars in Canada are registered in the province. British Columbia and Quebec account for 76% of all zero-emission, light-vehicle registrations.

Data Source: Electric Mobility Canada. Electric Vehicle Sales in Canada. Data Retrieved: July 2021; Visual Created by the Electricity Canada

Key Electric Vehicle Terms

There are various types of vehicles, named according to their power source and often referred to by their acronyms.

• ICE: Internal Combustion Engine (gas)

• HEV: Hybrid Electric Vehicle (mostly gas, some electric)

• PHEV: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (mostly electric, some gas)

• BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle (battery only)

• ZEV: Zero Emissions Vehicle (no emissions)

Shift to Electric Transportation

In 2021, the Canadian Government announced that it will require 100% of car and passenger truck sales to be zero emission by 2035—an advance of five years from the previous goal of 2040.

Meeting demand

The shift to electrification of transportation is accelerating worldwide, and the ability of the electricity sector to effectively meet this growing demand is pivotal to its long-term success. EV numbers are growing exponentially as car manufacturers release more models.

Supporting growth

Many electricity utilities in Canada are uniquely positioned to support the growth in electrified transportation—not only through power production, but also through strategic investments in distribution and fast-charging infrastructure.

Updating regulations

Regulatory innovation through provincial and territorial government directives is needed to create appropriate rate classes for different charging needs and to allow utilities to include upfront infrastructure costs (associated with deploying fast chargers) within the investments on which they can earn a regulated return.

Preparing the grid

Utilities are further preparing their grids for the predicted growth in electricity demand with trials for smart charging when electricity demand and prices are low. Emerging technology also has the potential to turn EVs into a large fleet of mobile batteries, which could be aggregated to supply energy to the grid.

Knowledge Check

In 2020, over 3.5% of vehicles sold in Canada were electric (up from less than 1% in 2016).