Renewable Microgrids in Remote Canada
Renewable Microgrids in Remote Canada
©iStockphoto/sergeynivens
Renewable energy
microgrids in northern
remote communities
Mariano Arriaga, Ehsan Nasr, and Hayley Rutherford
I
f you consider community elec- capacity with a relatively low envi- Far away from the large electric
tricity access issues and their ronment a l footpr i nt. In genera l grids, Canada has approximately
env i ron ment a l i mpact, you terms, the country has enough gen- 239 communities (Fig. 1)—mostly
might not think Canada would eration capacity to supply e
lectricity scattered across its vast northern
have communities where these for the vast majority of the popula- areas—that must deal continuously
are major concerns. Canada has tion and for foreseeable growth. In with energy access and environmen-
abundant dispersed natural resourc- addition, since 2002, Canada has tal issues. For electricity and heat,
es providing sufficient electrical reduced its environmental footprint these geographically remote commu-
from the electricity sector, mainly nities rely heavily on fuel transported
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2017.2702798
due to the retirement of coal plants. over winter roads, by water on barges,
Date of publication: 6 September 2017 So, what is the problem? or by air. Typical electricity generation
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facilities include multiple diesel- scattered over just a few kilometers. tal and economic impact. While the
based gensets (a combination of These facilities usually have a series integration of a low-penetration re-
a diesel engine and an electric gen- of three to six diesel gensets that newable energy project does not cre-
erator) that are expensive to operate can operate individually or in parallel ate major technological challenges in
and maintain. to supply the load; such capacities these locations, a high-penetration
Furthermore, the electricity re- are often larger than the actual or renewable energy project does. The
quirements in many communities expected peak load to allow for suf- advance controls required to man-
have already reached levels close to ficient backup capability in case of age the renewable energy variability
their installed capacities, limiting failure or maintenance. with the current limitations of en-
new infrastructure and economic From a control perspective, these ergy storage technologies remains a
growth. From an environmental per- facilities have a suitable level of serious, ongoing technical and eco-
spective, the related carbon footprint control over their operation, but this nomic challenge.
includes not only fuel genset-related control does not extend to the loads.
emissions but also fuel transporta- Recent technical developments in Technical issues in
tion emissions and ground contami- energy storage and controllable load remote microgrids
nation due to spills. These communi- technologies mean that clean energy Various technical issues and chal-
ties combined use approximately 192 technologies can now be seriously lenges related to diesel generation
million L of fuel per year (or approxi- considered as an alternative to re- facilities are present in a large
mately 1,500 L/person per year). That duce the presently high environmen- nu mber of remote communities.
is enough fuel for one person to drive
from Anchorage, Alaska, to Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
Canada’s Diesel-Dependent Communities
The reasons for and scale of the
energy access and environmental
challenges these communities face
vary significantly. Nevertheless, Population
all confront a mixture of technical <500
and nontechnical issues requiring 501–1,500
1,501–2,500
a comprehensive approach that ac- 2,501–5,000
knowledges and addresses the social, >5,001
Electricity Transmission
economic, technical, and political
Lines
aspects of electricity generation. Im-
provements to electrical stability and
performance must be made with the
goal of improving the social, econom-
ic, and environmental needs of the
people. We will highlight some of the Fig1 A map of Canada’s remote communities. [Graphic courtesy of the Waterloo Global
technical and social issues related to Science Initiative (2017). OpenAccess Energy Blueprint.]
energy in remote communities and
the potential for clean energy imple-
mentation to address both.
Remote microgrids
The U.S. Department of Energ y
defines a microgrid as a group of
interconnected loads and distributed
energy resources within clearly
defined electrical boundaries that
acts as a single controllable entity
with respect to the grid. From an
electrical point of view, Canada’s
remote communities fall into this cat-
egory and can be considered isolated
microgrids (Fig. 2). In general, these
microgrids have a diesel facility as
the sole generation station, connected
to a distribution system, typically a Fig2 A partial view of Iqaluit, located on Baffin Island, which meets all electricity and
25-kV line, with distributed loads heating requirements with fuel.
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of load-restriction status. This prac-
tice, as with any northern remote
project, is an expensive and logisti-
cally challenging task; and, if seen
as the only alternative, it will main-
tain the status quo of diesel-based
operation with its related economic
and environmental consequences.
In addition to load-restriction
status challenges, communities
deal with other ongoing technical
problems. Equipment installed in
Canada’s northern locations needs
to be robust and properly main-
tained since it operates frequently
under harsh weather conditions.
However, poorly maintained, ag-
ing generators and power grids
are more susceptible to failure,
which produces power outages in
Fig3 Any installation in Canada’s north needs to withstand extended harsh weather some communities (Fig. 3). Across
conditions. Canada, operation and maintenance
programs of electricity infrastructure
vary significantly, making this a ma-
jor issue in some communities. Insuf-
ficient fuel storage capacity (Fig. 4)
can also produce power outages. The
logistical challenge of supplying fuel
using trucks over winter roads, by
planes, or by barges, combined with
difficult weather conditions, has
also resulted in power outages that
i n some unexpected cases have
lasted a few days. Given that in the
winter months these communities
can reach temperatures of −40 °C,
having a reliable energy source is
a priority.
Energy-related environmental,
Fig4 Aging and insufficient fuel storage capacity is one of the ongoing challenges for social, and economic issues
electricity generation. Beyond the on-site issues of aging
generation and distribution infra-
Some of the main issues are related striction. This status means that no structure, supplying fuel to remote
directly to diesel-generation facili- further electrical connections can be communities has compounding
ties—insufficient capacity and aging added to the system—no new houses economic and environmental conse-
related equipment. Over the years, or buildings can be electrically con- quences. The cost of diesel genera-
the electric loads in some communi- nected to the microgrid—leading to tion includes the fuel cost as well as
ties have increased to levels nearing crowded living conditions and limit- transportation, storage, and reme-
the generation capacity limit. Com- ing local economic development. diation costs. For communities that
munity growth can explain the load For example, the utility in Deer have only ground transportation
increase; however, old and inefficient Lake First Nation in Ontario was via winter ice roads, warming trends
appliances also negatively contribute unable to connect five new homes have decreased access to the point
to a load increase and higher elec- recently built in the community due where fuel must be flown in to meet
tricity bills for residents. to its load-restriction status. Tradi- community needs, effectively dou-
When a community reaches lev- tionally, upgrading diesel-based gen- bling the cost of electricity.
els close to its generation capacity, it eration facilities has been the sole Indigenous and Northern Affairs
is classified as being under load re- alternative to lift a community out Canada (INAC) estimates that over
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1,400 sites on First Nations reserves Traditionally, upgrading diesel-based generation
are contaminated with diesel as a
result of aging storage facilities. For facilities has been the sole alternative to lift a
only the sites below the 60th paral- community out of load-restriction status.
lel, the cost of clean-up is estimated
at CAD$458 million. This number is
not likely to reveal the full picture structure, while current inadequate tions; however, it still holds tech-
since the the clean-up costs or impact energ y supply chokes econom ic nical, logistic, and maintenance
of certain fuel spills might be very activity in remote communities as challenges when deployed in off-
difficult to determine. For example, stores, other business, and services grid remote locations. Canadian
the impact of a fuel spill around fuel are forced to deal with blackouts and Solar Inc, an Ontario-based com-
storage tanks can easily escalate power surges. pany, has been successfully
over the spring months when ice deploying solar PV technologies
melts and the water/fuel mix drifts Renewable energy alternatives in remote communities and has
to adjacent lakes and rivers. Clean energy technologies such as been developing PV and hybrid
The combination of the aforemen- solar, wind, and hydro in combina- solutions for several years in
tioned technical issues creates a bar- tion w ith advanced controls and remote communities in Ontario.
rier to the provision of adequate and energy storage systems can signifi- Two communities in northern
reliable energy services in Canada’s cantly reduce some of the interre- Ontario, Deer Lake and Fort
remote communities—a barrier with lated technical, environmental, eco- Severn, have on-going projects
serious social and economic conse- nomic, and social issues. The per- aimed to deploy PV hybrid sys-
quences. Consider Pikangikum First ceived and actual benefits of such tems to reduce fuel dependency.
Nation, a remote northwestern On- technologies in remote communities The Deer Lake project plans
tario community that is home to ap- have improved in recent years, and to establish a solar-hydro-diesel
proximately 3,000 people, where an there are examples of all these tech- hybrid system; under Phase I, a
inadequate and aging generation fa- nologies moving forward in Cana- 152-kW dc solar rooftop was
cility results in brownouts and pow- da’s north: installed at the local school (Fig. 6).
er surges that have decreased class- ■■Solar: In recent years, solar pho- The Fort Severn project consid-
room time and damaged electronic tovoltaic (PV) technologies have ers a multiphase approach to ulti-
equipment. Extended power outages been installed in several commu- mately house a PV-battery sys-
also result in a lack of drinking water nities mostly due to its modulari- tem in the community. As part of
access since the operation of the lo- ty and low operational costs. The Phase I, a 24-kW dc/20-kW a c
cal water treatment plant also halts. technology is now mature and solar rooftop system was in
On top of this issue, some commu- widely used in on-grid applica- stalled to show the community
nities are already under a boiling
water advisory due to the substan-
dard drinking water quality of the
surrounding sources. During power
outages, communities also lose boil-
ing water capacity since all stoves in
the community are electric.
If communities cannot rely on an
adequate and reliable level of energy
services with their current infra-
structure and population, how can
they plan for the future (Fig. 5)? In-
digenous peoples are Canada’s fast-
est growing population segment,
nearly half of whom are under the
age of 25. Young adults with growing
families are greatly affected by load
restrictions that limit new housing
development. Without an appropri-
ate energy supply for new homes,
multiple generations must live under
one roof—a roof designed for a sin-
gle family. The same limitations on Fig5 Remote communities honor and depend on maintaining their land as part of their
new construction affect public infra- tradition and food sources, such as ice fishing.
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capabilities that wind can have in
remote operations. In 2012, the
remote mine of Diavik, in the
Northwest Territories, installed in
a 9.2-MW wind farm that reduced
fuel consumption by 10%. In
2015, the Raglan mine in north-
ern Quebec installed a wind proj-
ect with three energy storage tech-
nologies (lithium-ion batteries,
flywheel, and hydrogen storage)
to test their performance in a
remote microgrid.
Wind turbine deployment
in mines can eventually help
reduce installation and operation
challenges; such knowledge can
later benefit wind-energy devel-
Fig6 A school rooftop solar PV installation in Deer Lake, Ontario. opment in remote communities.
However, one of the main differ-
ences between mines and remote
and utility that renewables would consumption is significant. Over communities is the existence of
not have a negative impact on its the years, different organizations heavy equipment and technical
electrical system and would pro- in provinces and territories have personnel at mine sites, which
vide real costs savings. Under the measured the potential, studied are currently limited in a commu-
ongoing Phase II, a pilot microgrid the feasibility of deploying such nity setting. For example, ship-
includes a ground-mounted and projects, and worked on solving ping wind turbines across winter
rooftop PV system, a wind tur- some of the challenges. Small roads or via barges is a substan-
bine, a battery-energy storage wind turbines have also been tial logistical challenge, along
system, and a customer control deployed in communities across with having the required on-site
system. This system will create a Canada; however, most of them equipment for their installation
high renewable-energy penetra- have been at a low-scale level (e.g., large turbines require tele-
tion system and help in better (Fig. 7). One of the exceptions scopic cranes that cannot be
understanding the challenges of has been Ramea, an island in transported to some remote lo-
energy management systems in Newfoundland, which has been a cations). A company on Prince
remote communities. testing ground for a wind–diesel Edward Island, Frontier Power
■■Wind: Remote communities in system for several years and, Systems, has been working for
certain regions in Eastern Cana- more recently, hydrogen storage. several years to develop a robust
da have excellent wind resourc- Lately, the installation of large wind–diesel system that can be
es, so the potential for wind wind turbines in remote mines deployed in remote communities,
technologies to reduce diesel in Canada has also expanded the with aims to deploy such systems
across northern Canada.
■■Hydro: Hydropower accounts
for more than 60% of Canada’s
electricity generation, and un-
tapped hydroelectric potential is
estimated to be double that of
currently installed capacity. Ex-
isting local hydro grids success-
fully connect approximately
4 0 remote communities in the
Yukon, the Northwest Territories,
and Quebec to reliable electricity.
Communities across Canada are
exploring small-scale hydro proj-
ects to meet their electricity
Fig7 A small wind–solar facility installed at the airport of the remote community of needs. The proposed Innavik
Peawanuck, Ontario. Hydro Electric Project, a 7.5-MW
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run-of-river hydro generating Clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, and
station, has the potential to com-
pletely displace diesel in the hydro in combination with advanced controls and
community of Inukjuak, Quebec. energy storage systems can significantly reduce
This project has been progress- some of the interrelated technical, environmental,
ing slowly since it began in 2006,
with the major hurdles proving to economic, and social issues.
be regulatory rather than techni-
cal. One of the main economic
challenges has been negotiating communities, there are just a few stallation crew then had to lift ev-
an adequate power purchase ships per year, and consolidation erything onto the roof manually as
agreement between the commu- shipment deadlines are strict. If a the lifting equipment in the com-
nity and the utility. The project project is delayed and cannot meet munity had broken down and the
is designed not only to fully dis- those shipment time windows, the replacement parts were not readily
place diesel use for electricity project would likely be delayed for a available. The installation was per-
generation but also to create eco- full year. Furthermore, there could formed under −40 °C temperature
nomic development activities with be limited resources to transport w ith heav y snow falls; shoveling
the remaining electrical capacity. equipment from the on-site dropoff snow took a good portion of the daily
■■Energy storage: Electric energy point to the installation site. working hours.
storage has been a popular topic In the case of the Deer Lake PV Small renewable energ y proj-
in recent years given the maturity installation mentioned previously, ects have helped build a path for
of certain technologies and declin- the materials were dropped off 2 km such technologies to be embraced by
ing capital costs. The implementa- from the installation site as the school communities. However, the relative
tion of such technologies in remote was not truck accessible. The in- fuel reduction of these projects has
microgrids is promising; however,
we are still in the early stages of
understanding the technical impli-
cations and economic benefits of
extensively deploying electric ener-
gy storage in remote communities.
In 2016, Northwest Territories
Power Corporation installed a so-
lar–battery system in Colville
Lake, a remote community of ap-
proximately 150 people. The sys-
tem includes 136 kW of solar PV,
200 kWh of batteries, and three
diesel gensets (2 × 100 kW and
1 × 150 kW), which will help to ad-
dress the issues of installation and
management of energy storage
technologies in remote locations.
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gensets’ nominal capacities vary;
Fuel On-Site when the load is low, the smallest ca-
Transportation Fuel Storage Fuel-Based Generator Facility pacity genset runs, and as the load
increases, it is transitioned over to
the next size genset.
In other locations in the country,
gensets run in parallel to match the
community load and the gensets
Distribution nominal capacities are in most cas-
Microgrid Energy
System es similar. In this case, additional
Management System∗
gensets are turned on or off as the
load changes. This approach is also
used when gensets have different
nominal capacities. In such cases,
the load is shared proportionally to
the nominal capacity of the gensets.
Controllable Energy Clean Regardless of the operation strategy,
Loads∗ Storage∗ Energy Technologies∗ Existing Loads starting and stopping the gensets
∗Ongoing Alternatives too frequently increase their opera-
tion and maintenance cost, which is
Fig9 A diagram of a fuel-based and renewables microgrid (built with icons made by currently managed through a hys-
Freepik from [Link]). teresis control so that the gensets
do not shuttle back and forth when
the load is borderline.
By introducing intermittent re-
newables, the apparent load on the
gensets may appear more variable
and potentially cause the hysteresis
of the control system to be bypassed
and force the gensets to shuttle more
frequently. One solution to these is-
sues is using a battery energy stor-
age system within the microgrid that
can reduce the impact of the renew-
able intermittency, limit the appar-
ent variability seen by the gensets,
and limit the cycling.
Utilities operating these remote fa-
Fig10 The Canadian Solar Microgrid Test Centre. cilities know that grid stability is one
of the main challenges when increas-
ing the renewable-energy contribu-
been small. As communities move to critical element can be simplified by tion. Some are interested in microgrid
high-penetration renewable energy having the diesel gensets provide a demonstration projects with high
systems, the potential fuel savings will minimum load and maintain the renewable-energy contribution be-
increase but so will the technical frequency and voltage of the system. fore large-scale projects come into
challenges. The variable nature of re- The microgrid in this situation is be- effect. Microgrid testing facilities and
newable energy sources, like wind and ing used to manage the injection of demonstration projects can provide
solar, can negatively affect grid stabil- the maximum possible amount of hardware testing before pilot renew-
ity due to their intermittent nature. renewable energy without destabiliz- able energy systems are deployed to
In remote areas, grid stability is ing the system (Fig. 9). remote locations. Some examples in-
a critical factor due to the limited The integration of variable re- clude the following.
amount of generation resources. For newable energy resources can also ■■In Ontario, the Canadian Solar
a high renewable-energy-penetra- have a negat ive ef fect on genset Micr ogrid T est Centr e is an
tion system, grid stability has to be cycling. Most facilities in Ontario industry-based effort to establish
properly monitored and controlled have a single-diesel genset-operation a physical simulation tool for
to assure that the renewable equip- st rateg y to ma na ge t he load i n- development of designs of high
ment does not have a negative im- crease and decrease throughout the renewable-energy penetration
pact in the operation. Currently, this day. In these facilities, the individual microgrid systems (Fig. 10). The
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facility focuses on both islanded ect partners from consultation to • M. Arriaga, M. Brooks, N. Moore,
and grid-tied solutions. It is deployment. Programs like Lumos H. Rutherford (editor), J. Wright (edi-
equipped with a diesel genset, a Energy’s 20/20 Catalysts Program tor). (Mar. 2017). Energy Access—The
small wind turbine, a PV system, and Aki Energy focus on building Canadian context, excerpted from
an energy storage device, and test capacity within Indigenous commu- Waterloo Global Science Initiative’s
loads; in addition, it has a wind nities. Of course, external and non- O pen Access Energ y Bluepr i nt,
turbine simulator, a solar PV sys- Indigenous partners will be part of [ONline]. Available: [Link]
tem simulator, and a grid simula- the process. These partners, envi- sites/w g s i - l i v e .p i . l o c a l /f i l e s/
tor to address technical challeng- ronmental and engineering consult- Energy_ A ccess_Canadian_Context_
es in remote microgrids ing firms, for example, must begin Infographic_Spread_and_Section-
■■In Quebec, the Wind Energy building community relationships at Open Access_ Energ y_ Bluepr int _
TechnoCentre has a testing facil- the earliest possible opportunity and WGSI_2017.pdf
ity including 2 × 2.05-MW wind consider these relationships to go • Canadian Solar Inc. (2017) Mi-
turbines, a wind-diesel power beyond meeting the legal obligations crogrid solutions [Online]. Available:
station, and a wind measure- of duty to consult. [Link]
ment equipment that can help The development of Indigenous energy-solutions/microgrid-solutions
test the effect of cold weather leadership and partnerships that .html
conditions on wind turbines. prioritize the social and environmen- • World Wildlife Fund. (2016).
■■In Prince Edward Island, the tal benefits of renewable energy tech- Fuelling change in the A rctic—
Wind Energy Institute of Canada nologies in addition to the economic Phase II. [Online]. Available: http://
is a not-for-profit organization benefits is crucial to the success of a sset s.w w f.c a/dow n loads/f u l l _
with a small wind test bed that individual projects. They must also report_feasibility.pdf?_ga=1.198856
fosters industry and research work toward creating a positive eco- 234.408189266.1490914593
projects in the area. system for improving energy services
■■Finally, Alaska has developed sig- in communities that have been dis- About the authors
nificant resources over the years to advantaged for too long. Mariano Arriaga (marriaga@
promote renewable energy devel- [Link]) is a postdoctoral fellow
opment in the state, which has Conclusion at the Electrical and Computer Engi-
similar conditions as the Cana- Many individuals and organizations neering Department at the University
dian north. The Alaska Center across Canada have made convincing of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He cur-
for Energy and Power hosts the arguments for considering renewable rently works on large-scale integra-
Power Systems Integration Lab, energy as a serious alternative to tion of energy storage and in energy-
which is able to test different reduce fuel dependency in the ap related projects with Ontario’s First
microgrid configurations. proximately 239 remote communi- Nations. He previously worked on re
ties. Now, Canada is the position to newable energy projects in Canada,
Opportunities for step up these efforts to make signifi- Laos, Mexico, and Tanzania.
Indigenous communities cant reductions in this fuel depen- Ehsan Nasr (ehs a n.n a s r @
The remote and dispersed nature of dency. The solutions are far from sim- [Link]) is a power sys-
Canada’s off-grid communities in ple and need to consider the afore- tem/microgrid engineer at Canadian
addition to specific geography and mentioned technical, environmental, Solar Inc. He has worked on renew-
climate pose a real barrier to the pro- and social aspects. Indigenous com- able energy and energy storage proj-
vision of energy services. It is impor- munities can and will increase their ects, paticularly on the development
tant to recognize that this barrier is energy project management capacity, of remote off-grid solutions with
coupled with a huge opportunity to allowing for fair partnerships with high renewable energy penetrations.
connect Canada’s fastest growing industry and other organizations to He has been leading development and
population to the emerging strength provide solutions that will result in implementation of the Microgrid Test
of the renewable energy sector. Tech- social and environmental benefits for Centre facility.
nical solutions cannot be “parachut- the communities and economic prof- Hayley Rutherford, (hruther
ed” in without involving the community its to all partners. ford@[Link]) is the content and pro-
from the outset, nor can communi- gramming manager for Waterloo Glob-
ties be expected to rely on exter- Read more about it al Science Initiative (WGSI). Through
nal expertise to maintain their • M. Arriaga, C. A. Caizares, and WGSI’s OpenAccess Energy program,
energy technologies. M. Ka zera ni, “L ong-ter m renew- she helps catalyze collaborative part-
Indigenous and in-community able energy planning model for remote nerships between energy sector
capacity to initiate, lead, and main- communities,” IEEE Trans. Sustain. actors in Canada and globally to
tain energy projects must be recog- Energy, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 221–231, improve outcomes for energy isolat-
nized and supported by all proj- Jan. 2016. ed communities.
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