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Federal government announces $16.7M to support Ont.’s power grid and the EV supply chain

TORONTO — Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced a $16.7-million federal investment for a project by Ontario’s power grid operator that will strengthen its electricity grid operations. Federal funding for the project will specifically help IESO increase the number and diversity of clean energy resources that can participate in delivering electricity in Ontario, which will give Ontario households and businesses greater access to more reliable, cost-effective and clean options to meet rising demand.

Some improvements that will be made possible through this federal funding include:

• Providing the IESO’s Control Centre with real-time data on the state of charge of battery storage facilities, so that electricity system operators are aware of how much stored energy is available at any given moment;
• Enabling aggregators to consolidate smaller resources in different cities and communities around Ontario to collectively bid into Ontario’s electricity markets;
• Allowing supply as small as 100 kW in Ontario’s electricity markets (e.g., a manufacturing plant’s roof-top solar array).

Federal funding for this project is provided through the Government of Canada’s Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs), which is supporting smart renewable energy, energy storage and electrical grid modernization projects across the country. The SREPs program is one of many initiatives that the Government of Canada is undertaking to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to every region of Canada by 2035. For example, through NRCan’s Electricity Pre-Development Program, Minister Wilkinson announced a federal investment of $50 million last week to support Bruce Power’s assessment of new generation opportunities at its site in Tiverton, Ontario. This funding will enable the exploration of a project that could produce power for up to 4,800,000 homes and businesses in Ontario and represents more than 25 percent of the new nuclear capacity required for Ontario to meet its clean electricity needs in 2050, as recommended by the IESO.

“Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity is a critical step in driving down emissions and seizing the economic opportunities that will be enabled through the shift to a clean economy. Canada has one of the cleanest electricity grids in the world, and we are continuing to invest, innovate and collaborate to maintain and strengthen this competitive advantage. Today’s investment is an important part of these efforts and will help ensure that people and businesses in Ontario can continue to have access to affordable, reliable and clean electricity well into the future,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.