At an energy storage conference in Sarnia Wednesday, Bluewater Power COO Tim Vanderheide spoke about creating a “smart microgrid” to insulate the area against power fluctuations or outages elsewhere, and to provide non-stop power to the 62 largely interdependent Chemical Valley companies that can’t afford a microsecond’s interruption.
“When we’re talking about grid reliability we can tolerate virtually nothing,” said Nova Chemicals’ Neil Christopher at the conference.
He explained that because of the precise technology the petrochemical company uses, a microseconds-long outage in power can still bring down equipment and other connected systems.
In the massive 2003 blackout, it cost Sarnia-Lambton petrochemical companies between $10-$20 million every hour it was dark, according to a report by the Electricity Consumers Resource Council, Vanderheide said.
“Basically you need continuous power supply,” he said.
Microseconds-long interruptions happen about twice a year now, he said.
Everything is in place to create a Sarnia-Lambton grid that would be able to physically separate from the rest of Ontario in the event of an outage, and could also be used as a stable source to restart other power generators, said Vanderheide.
Sarnia-Lambton already has thousands of megawatts in gas power generation, and 100 MW in solar and wind, plus an extensive pipeline network, and massive salt caverns to keep gas energy.
What’s missing is energy storage, Vanderheide said.
Different technologies that store surplus energy and re-introduce it into the grid when there’s a lull were the focal point at the Grid Resiliency Through Energy Storage in SW Ontario conference Wednesday.
Flywheels, compressed air fuel cells, and battery technologies are some energy storage examples.
Using stable power generators like coal and natural gas less, in favour of renewables like wind and solar — inherently inconsistent power generation technologies — makes storage technology necessary, said Jatin Nathwani, one of the keynote speakers.
“The view we need to take of storage is it needs to be part of the energy system … to allow us to move to a low-carbon energy future,” said the executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE).
Locally, Bluewater Power wants to work with industries, energy storage providers, government, academics and others to make Sarnia the province’s first smart microgrid, Vanderheide said.
He expects it’ll take about two years to determine where energy storage is needed, and then to actually build the system.
Having an insulated and more stable system would also make the area more attractive to data storage industries that rely on non-stop power, he said.
Who bears the cost of introducing the smart grid isn’t clear yet, he said.
“Everything comes at a cost and it’s just really figuring out where that cost lies,” he said.