The University of Toronto Centre for Applied Power Electronics (CAPE) will receive $720,000 in funding for its smart-grid community lithium-ion battery solution for utility energy storage project. Mark Warawa, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment and Member of Parliament for Langley, announced $52 million in funding through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for 16 clean energy projects across Canada.

The SDTC funding, announced in Vancouver on Sunday, is part of a series of investments totalling up to $63.8 million to support renewable and clean energy projects that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Investing in clean energy technologies stimulates the growth of a domestic clean energy industry,” said MP Warawa.

eCamion Inc. of Whitby, Ontario, a provider of modular energy solutions, is the lead organization in the smart-grid community lithium-ion battery solution for utility energy storage project, in partnership with CAPE, within The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and industry partners Dow Kokam and Toronto Hydro Electric System.

Electricity distribution is facing two main challenges: increased adoption of intermittent renewable power generation, and increased demand which will soon include plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle recharging. Embedding storage in the distribution network, at the community level, represents the most economical solution to addressing these issues while meeting the rapidly evolving demands on the grid.

The project will integrate eCamion’s light-weight, high-energy density 750 kilowatt Li-ion battery energy storage system using Dow Kokam’s lithium-ion technology into Toronto Hydro’s existing electricity power grid. Two innovations will be demonstrated in the project: eCamion’s battery pack design, deploying advanced lithium ion battery technology, and CAPE’s Control, Protection and Power Management system, which will control in real time the transfer of power across multiple battery storage units to and from the grid, improving power availability and reliability while supporting microFIT renewable electricity installations.

The system will be tested at Toronto Hydro’s Smart Grid Community in North York.

The benefits of the new technology will be cleaner air. Battery storage in the range of 200 kilowatts to  2,000 kilowatts will be developed, said Professor Reza Iravani, coordinator of CAPE and an ECE professor. The project will allow distributed generation, and in particular renewable energy, to be  integrated in the hydro system through greater usage of solar energy. The new technology also enables load management and integration of smart grid technologies as part of the distribution power grid revitalization through smart grid concepts, said Professor Iravani.

“It can help to increase the depth of penetration of solar energy in the system,” he said. “Solar energy is inherently intermittent; the envisioned battery system eliminates the intermittency of solar energy. One of the main features of the battery system is that it enables high depth of penetration of solar energy in the electric power distribution system.”

Since 2006, the government of Canada has invested more than $10 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build a more sustainable environment through investments in green infrastructure, energy efficiency, clean energy technologies and the production of cleaner energy and cleaner fuels.

The government has developed a broad suite of policies and programs to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 — a target aligned with that of the United States.

“Moving forward aggressively with investments in clean energy technologies will help us balance our need for energy with our need to protect the environment,” said Warawa.

The February 27th announcement builds on the success of other initiatives that are helping to sustain and enhance Canada’s clean energy industry.