Comments on: Task force: spend $1.6 billion on Ontario smart grid over five years

By: Marshall Mathew

Marshall Mathew — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:35:48 +0000

Check out the ultimate SMART GRID solution for the US framed by a panel of professional power engineers and professors- http://www.smartgridsolution.blogspot.com/

By: Welcome To The New World | Green Stocks

Welcome To The New World | Green Stocks — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:00:17 +0000

[...] And the US isn’t alone: the Canadian province of Ontario established a Smart Grid Forum that recently recommended spending C$1.6 billion over the next five years on smartening the grid there. Smart grid opportunities are also attracting large firms with no [...]

By: Paul C from Austin

Paul C from Austin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:36:13 +0000

Another good, and longer, article on the importance of Smart Grid technology, especially in regards to a growing renewable energy production, is on the Technology Review web site: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21747/

By: Paul C from Austin

Paul C from Austin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:32:37 +0000

The naysayers for this story have it all wrong- the smart grid technology is an investment in infrastructure that not only will save money over the long run for present electriciy generation, but will be even more important for renewables, and, hopefully, EV’s. It will, among other things, allow for more efficient use of the Grid, including balancing electricity needs in local areas and metro areas- imagine being able to decrease electricity to water heaters and EV’s just enough to meet the A/C demand on a brutal July day, or to pick up the slack for an area that loses its capacity for some reason. Additionally, because of the nature and geographic location of many renewables, some say a smart grid is even necessary before renewables can fully and efficiently be implemented. For a good overview of the Smart Grid technology, see the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid
It is so short-sighted not to invest in infrastructure- let’s hope for the long view then here and in Canada;-)

By: Tim Pozza

Tim Pozza — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:48:48 +0000

It is my firm and shrill belief that Smart Metering is an affront to Ontarians.

If a so-called Smart Grid is to appear, it should be supportive of local level renewable energy installations at 30 kWh.

I wish our government wasn’t so interested in making money from electric vehicles in future.

If we had truly visionary leadership resource depletion would be intrinsic to their approach.

And Net Metering would be the only choice. Not Smart Metering.

After having reviewed the recent studies detailing the increasingly obvious gap between low income households and high income households, visually apparent by the zones in which these phenomenon occur, it seems obvious taxing people with Smart Metering without helping each household access technologies which aid in net family income or produce an offset to energy expenditures, is not going to allow the Smart Grid model to work as a socially responsible development.

The cost of generating, according to some experienced Alcatel engineers I’ve spoken with who, in consultation with Ontario Hydro leading up to 2002, expected the cost per kWh to increase without the Standard Offer Contract, Smart Metering or Usage Levels, to 10 cents; just to cover the then current cost of generation.

Smart Metering is still a bad idea. 800,000 people the government does not care about in my opinion. And that number will grow.

Imagine a Smart Metering, Smart Grid future where debt retirement will have to be revisited to pay for the current nuclear agenda.

Sure. Let’s build some nuclear power plants and increase the footprint of nuclear some more instead of getting behind renewable energy at the local level.

At least it creates revenue for the government if nothing else.

By: Darklamp

Darklamp — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:23:17 +0000

Perhaps the grid is preparing for biogas.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/biogas/

By: Clean Future Energy

Clean Future Energy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:50:07 +0000

Who owns the grid in Ontario? Are the owners effectively asking for cash, or is it publicly owned?

The best solution would surely to pass a small increase in transmission prices, with the proceeds earmarked for smart grid investment.

By: Eric Childs

Eric Childs — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:31:24 +0000

Is a green grid in fact, ready to be implemented? I admit I’m pretty fuzzy on what a smart grid actually consists of. Indeed, for their part, most writers tend to skip over the details. So my question is this: we treat the smart grid as a “thing” we can “buy”; are the components existant and ready to go? Are the smart meters we’re installing now robust enough to handle different functions for future requirements? If people like Cisco are putting their innovational heft behind smart grid projects, what are they innovating, and will it render current smart grid systems obsolete?

If anyone knows the answer to these, I’d be interested to hear. Also if anyone could point me towards a good “Smart Grid fo Dummies”-type resource that explains this whole thing.

By: Jay Godse

Jay Godse — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:05:24 +0000

With the crashing economy, we don’t need a smart grid as much as we need a clean grid. Crashing economy implies lower power demand. Since power production capacity is fixed, we have too much power generation (at least until the economy picks up). If we have more than enough capacity, we don’t need smart grid technology to police and allocate power.

What we need is a clean grid. What they should do is spend a chunk of money subsidizing green power consumers, such as customers of Bullfrog Power, so that green electricity costs can match market rates for electricity. This would trigger investment in “green power” technologies, and spur a build-out of wind and solar electricity sources.

Allocating that money is fairly easy because each green power consumer pays GST and/or PST, so the funding could simply be administered as a GST or PST break for customers of companies such as Bullfrog Power.