Conservation Voltage Reduction

Lead Proponent

Entegrus Powerlines Inc.

Project Background

The objective of this project is to enable a local energy system in Thamesville, Ontario to reduce GHG emissions by decreasing energy demand and consumption. Thamesville is a small community with a population of ~900 people. Entegrus distributes electrical power to the 450 electricity customers in Thamesville. This project was integrated on the Entegrus distribution feeder that supplies the town.

The deployment of this project leverages the positive outcomes of an earlier project, Distributed Dynamic Voltage/VAR Control and Monitoring of Distribution Feeder, where Entegrus hosted a demonstration of the innovative technology. The edge-of-network grid optimization (ENGO) devices were coupled with Grid Edge Management System to regulate the voltage on the secondary side of distribution feeders.

This project builds on the earlier project, deploying an integrated voltage management system using ENGO devices on distribution transformers. These were used in combination with an upstream voltage regulator to achieve conservation voltage reduction (CVR).

Results

This project has resulted in Entegrus’s ability to better manage distribution system voltages and improve efficiency without compromising power quality. The project enhances the utilization and extend the operating life of existing utility assets, providing improved grid visibility to respond to and investigate power-quality issues more efficiently.

The project implemented an Integrated Smart Grid Design to execute CVR to reduce GHG emissions, with control room management of the feeder voltage, granular data download and feeder voltage visualizations.

The CVR functionality demonstrated that the system enables an estimated annual energy savings in the range of 4 %. The impact of the ENGO devices compared with the regulator on CVR and energy savings was small at approximately 27 % of the total energy savings, nevertheless, additional benefits accrue to their deployment, including granular voltage visibility, dynamic voltage boost, improving the system power factor (with associated reduction in system losses), and the potential for increasing the capacity for distributed energy resources, particularly PV systems.

Benefits to Canadians

This project resulted in reductions in energy consumption and therefore reduced energy costs without active participation of the electricity consumer. The estimated reductions are 3.72% in annual energy consumption, or $35.6 in annual consumer costs. This also generates benefits in the form of GHG emissions reductions with an estimated 96 tons of CO2 per year from both energy and demand reduction.

Next Steps

Entegrus, its’ customers, and the environment will continue to reap the benefits provided from this project for years to come. Entegrus provides thanks to its project sponsors NRCan and the Ontario Ministry of Energy for financial and project support to advance the electrical distribution grid for Ontario and other provinces in Canada.