Demonstrating real results for industry

Pioneering Canadian ES demonstration projects have broken new ground, independently. But collectively, the lessons learned and data gathered from these projects could resolve your most pressing technology gaps.

Currently, there are more than 30 independent grid-scale energy storage projects under development or fully operational in Canada. But to date, no undertaking has combined the operating results from these demonstrations to help the next wave of projects succeed. And typically, the lessons learned from past projects have not been widely disseminated – which is a critical gap to realizing a safer, more reliable grid in Canada.

NRC is changing that through a multi-year energy storage data collection and analysis initiative that will identify the successes and challenges of past demonstration projects, and clear the path forward to increased technology adoption.

The term demonstration can be defined as an action that shows the existence of something by giving proof or evidence. But to what end? Why do we demonstrate if not to learn from our successes and inevitable challenges?

The project is called Stationary Energy Storage (ES) Systems - Collecting ES Demonstration Data to Support Codes, Standards and Regulations. The project will identify guidelines for the successful adoption of energy storage technologies. Specifically, it will enable future projects to have: lower risks in development, evaluation and operation; reduced uncertainty for individual project proponents; and improved evaluation and dissemination of successful results, for continued learning across the industry.

NRC recently completed the first phase of this multi-year initiative by creating an efficient platform for data collection and performance analytics for grid-scale energy storage systems.

The second phase, which will evaluate actual versus expected project outcomes, is currently underway with the help of partners like Natural Resources Canada, standards development organizations, Electric Power Research Institute and demonstration project owners.

This collaborative endeavour will benefit a diverse group of Canadian stakeholders:

• Utilities There are still many unknowns related to the actual performance of grid-scale ES technologies, and their impacts on the electrical grid. Collecting and analyzing demonstration data will provide these stakeholders with comprehensive information– not available from any singular project – which will enable them to make more informed decisions on the technology, scale, location and dispatchability of future deployments.
• ES technology developers/manufacturers To meet the growing demand for grid-scale ES, developers are rapidly building and scaling-up new components and systems. Validating the performance of their products in real-world grid applications would increase their customer confidence and de-risk investments in mass production facilities.
• Regulators, insurers and first responders Nothing is more critical to ES deployment than the requirement of safe operation. Demonstration systems are currently validating this, but data needs to be collected and reported showing the total hours of operation including failures, downtime, incidents, etc.

For our industry at large, an enhanced collective understanding of the performance and safety of these innovative technologies enables us to move toward harmonized codes and standards across North America.

Enhancing consistency and closing gaps in codes and standards is expected to reduce the full-cycle costs and implementation risks associated with energy storage systems and increase the adoption of these game-changing technologies.

Now is the time to learn more and become involved in this critical project for the energy storage industry.

We are currently recruiting members for our Codes and Standards Advisory Panel, to help develop the roadmap for energy storage codes and standards, and to help close critical gaps. We are also recruiting demonstration project owners who want to analyse their project’s operation, and learn from other projects in Canada and around the world.

Contact us today to benefit from this innovative project.