Georgian students gain real-world experience in renewable energy microgrid project

Source: Ricardo Vigliano | · BARRIE TODAY · | December 26, 2023

A partnership between Lakeland Generation and Georgian College is helping to develop renewable skills through a microgrid pilot project in Parry Sound

Source: A Georgian College student at the Peter B. Moore Advanced Technology Centre. The College partnered with Lakeland Generation in a microgrid project in Parry Sound.Image supplied

A partnership between Lakeland Generation and Georgian College is helping to develop renewable skills through a microgrid pilot project in Parry Sound.

“The field of renewable energy and clean tech is certainly growing at a significant rate and we are definitely part of it,” said Scott McCrindle, a professor in Georgian’s Computer Studies academic area who led the collaborative effort to account the emissions from the SPEEDIER project.

The SPEEDIER project comprises the installation of a mix of solar, batteries and other distributed energy resources for a handful of households and businesses in Parry Sound.

The microgrid, which is interconnected to the local utility grid, helps reduce emissions by generating solar energy and storing this energy when the provincial electricity generation mix is cleaner.

For Georgian College's research team, the goal is to determine existing emission scenarios that would be negated by deploying each of the microgrid assets onto the Parry Sound electricity grid.

The primary contribution of the college was to produce an internationally recognized greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting methodology suitable for the project.