Managing electricity needs: Grid Management

NRU
Nov. 16, 2016
Leah Wong

With significant growth anticipated in Richmond Hill and Markham over the next five years, the electricity sector is preparing for electrical demand to exceed existing supply. To prepare the sector is working with municipalities to determine how to address future electricity needs.

In a presentation to Richmond Hill committee of the whole last week Independent Electricity System Operator planner Bernice Chan said that changes to provincial policy will alter how electricity planning is done in the future. She noted that IESO is engaging with municipalities to understand how amendments to the Places to Grow Act will impact growth and how this affects electricity planning.

“We are doing our best to work more closely with communities so that we understand their needs and how we can move forward in the future,” Chan told committee. Given the growth anticipated in Markham and Richmond Hill she said it is anticipated that the transformer stations will exceed capacity in the early 2020s, despite conservation efforts.

She said Ontario’s climate change action plan, released in June, raises additional questions about electricity needs across the province. In particular, policies related to electrification of public transit, a switch to lower-carbon fuel and the more widespread adoption of electric vehicles could increase electricity needs across the province and affect the entire sector.

Electricity planning for York Region is underway. Last year IESO released an integrated regional resource plan that addressed the electricity needs of York Region over the next 20 years. The plan outlines the near-term actions that need to be taken to meet capacity in Markham and Richmond Hill.

Since the plan was released Chan said IESO has been working with communities and a local advisory committee to ensure there continues to be “safe, reliable source of electricity.” This engagement will inform the next iteration of the plan, which will outline the solutions required to support growth in Vaughan and northern York Region municipalities.

Chan said that prior to the resource plan update there is an opportunity for the IESO to engage with local communities to understand the potential of local solutions related to conservation and distribution.

“Communities are becoming increasingly engaged in emerging technology,” said Chan. “[In between planning cycles offers] a good opportunity to do a number of pilots and studies to help us better understand what role those play in community energy planning.”

While there will be opportunities to use local solutions to support the grid Chan said in areas of high growth there need to be multiple conservation and distribution eff orts to meet demand.

“We understand the growth in Markham and Richmond Hill will be significant and is arising early in the 2020s,” said Chan. “We can’t solely rely on local [energy] resources to address need.”

She added that there are new emerging technologies and conservation techniques being tested by municipalities across the province, but as many are in the early stages of development more work needs to be done to understand the cost and feasibility of these solutions.

While these technologies are being studied, Chan said it is important to develop an infrastructure plan because the process to build new infrastructure takes time.

PowerStream system planning and standards manager Riaz Shiakh told committee that PowerStream and IESO are working on a feasibility study on residential solar and battery use that will be released by the end of the year. He said it will assess the impact of these technologies if they are widely adopted and their bearing on electrical distribution.

The IESO has recommended reinforcing the transmission and distribution system in Markham and Richmond Hill in order to address anticipated growth. Shiakh told committee that three sites in Markham are being considered for a new transmission station and the preferred location will be determined through an environmental assessment. He noted that the location will determine the levels of distribution and transmission required to serve Richmond Hill.