Renewable Energy and Clean Energy Systems Demonstration Projects

Updated April, 2012

Projects:

Tidal Energy Project in the Bay of Fundy

Lead proponent: Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE)
Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro
Location: Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia

This project plans to validate the performance and resilience of tidal current turbines in the Minas Passage in the Bay of Fundy.  This will be the first Canadian deployment of commercial-scale tidal turbines. The project has the potential to advance tidal energy in Canada, provide economic impacts in the Atlantic region and place Canada as a world leader in marine renewable energy. Please click here for further information.

Biomass-based Urban Central Heating Demonstration

Lead proponent: SSQ, Société immobilière inc.
Strategic Area: Buildings/Community Energy Systems
Location: Québec, Québec

The Cité Verte is an innovative real estate project which combines various initiatives related to sustainable development, such as renewable energy utilization, energy efficient design, the management of water consumption, energy and waste. NRCan will support the component that comprises the installation of a biomass and wood based district heating system. This project combines many technologies and partners. Please click here for further information.

Demonstration of Heat and Power from Biomass Gasification

Lead proponent: University of British Columbia
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: UBC Point Grey Campus, Vancouver, British Columbia

This project will showcase biomass gasification integrated with an internal combustion engine gen-set in a novel, small scale combined heat and power demonstration suited for on-site applications at public institutions, industrial facilities, northern and remote Canadian communities. This project has the potential to overcome the syngas condition/clean-up hurdle and opens up the possibility of significant replication in Canada and overseas. Please click here for further information.

Utility Scale Electricity Storage Demonstration Using New and Re-purposed Lithium Ion Automotive Batteries

Lead Proponent: Electrovaya
Strategic Area: Electricity Storage
Location: Toronto, Ontario, and Manitoba

This Project will demonstrate electricity storage for renewable energy with the development of a green Canadian energy storage technology (advanced batteries developed and manufactured in Ontario with a zero-emission process). The Project will provide a detailed evaluation of technical, economic and social benefits of extending the life of lithium ion batteries, repurposed as a utility-scale storage system. This concept will reduce the cost for electric vehicle batteries to consumers by providing a future market to meet urban electricity demand. Please click here for further information.

Electricity Load Control Demonstration

Lead proponent: New Brunswick Power Corporation
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Four maritime communities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

Traditionally, to accommodate the intermittent nature of wind power, other generation sources are required to follow the net effect of variation in load and wind power production.  This project focuses on the integration between smart grid technologies, customer loads and intermittent renewables in a region with potentially significant renewable electricity capacity.  It will allow utilities to better understand how customers will react to smart grid and which loads can be controlled by real-time demand balancing in up to 750 buildings, thereby assisting these utilities to capitalize on renewable resources in the region. Please click here for further information.

Energy Management Business Intelligence Platform Development and Demonstration

Lead proponent: Power Measurement Ltd.
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Commercial buildings in Calgary, Alberta, Ontario and BCIT Burnaby, British Columbia

This project will develop and demonstrate smart grid technology, voluntary load curtailment and peak shaving in a commercial building setting. Most projects of this type to date have focused on residences.  This technology will also enable tenants to voluntarily reduce their demand based on real-time price signals. Please click here for further information.

A 10 MW Wind Technology Research and Development Park

Lead proponent: Wind Energy Institute of Canada
Strategic Area: Wind/Storage
Location: Prince Edward Island

The 10 MW wind park proposed will be the first wind/storage combination in Prince Edward Island.  The project’s research base has a strong focus on information dissemination, and would be a good base for supporting additional wind research. Please click here for further information.

Energy Storage and Demand Response for Near-Capacity Substation

Lead proponent: BC Hydro
Strategic Area: Smart Grid/Electricity Storage
Location: Golden and Field, British Columbia

This project demonstrates the integration of energy storage as a mechanism for reducing electricity demand at near-peak capacity substations.  This type of solution has the ability to be used in other remote communities where the grid reliability is low and the cost of the transmission line upgrade is uneconomical. Please click here for further information.

Wind and Storage Demonstration in a First Nations Community

Lead proponent: Cowessess First Nation
Strategic Area: Wind/Storage
Location: Cowessess, Saskatchewan

This project aims to demonstrate a combined wind and storage energy system in a First Nation community.  The successful demonstration would prove this system as a model for other First Nation’s communities across Canada. Please click here for further information.

Interactive Smart Zone Demonstration in Québec

Lead proponent: Hydro-Québec – Institut de recherche
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Boucherville, Québec

This project will ensure the installation of an interactive network area in a neighbourhood of Boucherville. This will demonstrate different technologies and concepts related to modernization of electrical networks, in particular the deployment of infrastructure for charging electric and hybrid rechargeable vehicles. Please click here for further information.

Bio-energy Optimization Program Demonstration

Lead proponent: Manitoba Hydro
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: 5 locations in Manitoba

This project is comprised of five different bio-energy systems at five different project sites.  The project demonstrates collaboration between utility companies and customers. It is anticipated to remove the perceived barrier of technical and operational risk and to promote the wide-scale adoption of bio-energy systems in Canada. Please click here for further information.

Demonstration of Waste-Heat Recovery at Compressor Stations

Lead proponent: Great Northern Power Corp.
Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern
Location: Compressor Stations in Alberta and British Columbia

This project plans to demonstrate waste-heat recovery systems on a variety of stationary, reciprocating engines greater than 1000hp.  A successful demonstration has the opportunity to lead to commercialization and wide-scale adoption of this technology at compressor stations and other industrial applications across Canada. Please click here for further information.

Community-Based Geothermal Demonstration in Remote First Nations Community

Lead proponent: Borealis GeoPower Inc./ Acho Dene Koe First Nation
Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern
Location: Fort Liard, Northwest Territories

This project will demonstrate how a northern community can use a Geothermal resource to generate electricity and heat thereby reducing the entire community’s fossil fuel demand and reduce energy costs. A successful demonstration will provide a model for other Northern and First Nations communities with available geothermal resources.

Food and Yard Waste Anaerobic Digestion to Electricity Demonstration

Lead proponent: Harvest Power Canada Ltd.
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre, British Columbia

This project will be Canada’s first high-efficiency system for producing up to 1 MW of renewable energy from food and yard waste. If successful, this technology has the potential to be rapidly deployed across Canada as a mechanism to divert food wastes from landfills and produce renewable energy. Please click here for further information.

Cold Climate Air-Source Heat Pump Demonstration

Lead proponent: Ecologix Heating Technologies Inc.
Strategic Area: Buildings/Solar
Location: Ontario and other regions

This project involves the development and demonstration of cold climate air-source heat pumps in a number of Canadian climate regions. It will take technologies developed for commercial applications and apply them at the residential scale. One phase of the project will also test the technology using natural refrigerants and explore the integration of solar energy. Successful demonstration of air-source heat pumps at the residential scale has the potential to show the technology to be transformative in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry. Please click here for further information.

Community-level Solar Energy Project

Lead proponent: City of Colwood
Strategic Area: Buildings/Solar
Location: Colwood, British Columbia

The project is a demonstration of a whole community moving toward zero emissions. The use of heat and power will focus mainly on solar thermal, solar photovoltaics, geothermal and emerging Smart Grid technologies. The City of Colwood plans to undertake a number of initiatives related to its commitment to environmental sustainability, including a demonstration net-zero mixed-use development and home and municipal building solar retrofits. This innovative project — undertaken with a broad range of partnerships, including Royal Roads University, the T’Sou-ke First Nation and the private sector — will be a model for other municipalities across the country. Please click here for further information.