The City of Summerside is seeking innovative ideas to support its Electrical Utility’s mission of providing clean energy to residential, commercial, and industrial customers while reducing carbon emissions.

The Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project aims to revolutionize energy management by integrating various distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage systems, smart meters, and customer demand response mechanisms, into a cohesive and highly efficient system. Solutions may include simulations using historical and real-time data on energy production and consumption. Additionally, advanced predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms may be utilized to forecast demand and supply, allowing the VPP to make preemptive adjustments that optimize renewable energy utilization, reduce carbon emissions, and lower capital and operating costs.

Context:

The City of Summerside is located in the Province of Prince Edward Island, on the east coast of Canada. Despite being a small city, Summerside has fostered a thriving environment for innovation with its open enabling infrastructure, making it ideal for testing and developing scalable, exportable technology.
In addition to owning and operating a municipal electrical utility, the City has invested in the following infrastructure over the past 16 years in its pursuit of net-zero emissions:

• 0.6 MW Solar and Battery Behind-the-Meter Demonstration for Peak Shaving – First in Canada.
• 12 MW Wind Farm – 4 Vestas V90/3000 turbines providing 21% of the City’s power generation requirements.
• 21 MW Solar Farm with 10 MW Power Transfer Battery – Contributing 21% of the City’s power generation requirements.
• AI Smart Grid – Developed in partnership with the private sector as the first end-to-end AI power grid in North America.
• 40% bi-directional residential fibre coverage – Enabling smart device testing, including innovative thermal storage solutions for commercial and residential customers.
• First municipality in Atlantic Canada (2010) to invest in electric vehicles for its fleet.
• First in the region (2006) to invest in a Level 4 Tertiary Waste Treatment Facility, producing 5,000 tonnes of biofertilizers annually.
• Over 34 Level 2 EV chargers are owned by the City.
• The municipal fleet has six electric vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt, GM Spark, and Ford F-150 Lightning.

The following table outlines existing energy storage appliances and their capacity in the City:

Over the past two decades, Summerside has partnered with numerous innovative companies to develop, validate, and test emerging technologies. Many of these collaborations have resulted in the City becoming the first or only partner for businesses seeking to expand into North America. More details on past case studies can be found at Summerside Living Lab.

As of 2024, renewable solar and wind resources meet 62% of Summerside’s energy requirements for residents and businesses. The City is committed to ensuring that its residents and businesses benefit from every net-zero megawatt available.

With the bi-directional fibre network covering more than 40% of utility customers, the City developed the Heat for Less program in 2012. More details on this initiative can be found here.

Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Project Goals:

Building on past successes in cleantech innovation, Summerside is now focused on establishing a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). This project will leverage advanced digital technologies and sophisticated software to coordinate electricity production, storage, and consumption across the city’s grid. By aggregating the output of numerous small-scale renewable energy sources, the VPP aims to:

• Facilitate better integration of renewable energy – Measured by the percentage of energy derived from renewables and reductions in curtailment rates.
• Improve energy efficiency – Tracked by comparing energy losses and operational costs before and after VPP deployment.
• Lower capital and operational costs – Evaluated based on savings from deferred infrastructure investments.
• Enhance participation in energy markets – Measured by financial performance and profitability.
• Increase grid stability – Assessed through metrics such as frequency regulation, voltage stability, and outage frequency reduction.