Lac-Megantic microgrid a showcase for new Hydro-Quebec technologies
Source: Don Wall · DAILY COMMERCIAL NEWS · | July 13, 2021
Source: HYDRO-QUEBEC - The Le Concerto building, laden with solar panels, is one of 30 attached to the clean-energy microgrid of Lac-Megantic, Que.
Eight years after the tragic freight train derailment, explosion and fire that killed 47 people and destroyed half of its downtown, Lac-Megantic, Que. has become a showcase for the latest Hydro-Quebec clean-energy technology thanks to a large microgrid project.
The municipal council wanted to put the legacy of fossil fuels behind it and in 2018 approached Hydro-Quebec with the idea of creating a clean-energy microgrid. The utility has devised a system that consists of solar panels, a containerized energy storage system, transformers and converters, grid-control technology and smart monitoring systems.
As Hydro-Quebec microgrid project engineer Julien Choisnard explained, the utility will now fine-tune the engineering in preparation for installing similar microgrids in some of the 22 remote Quebec communities identified for transition from diesel.
“It’s really a demonstration project and kind of a research project, because it’s easier for Hydro-Quebec to do it in Lac-Megantic than go further north trying such technology,” said Choisnard. “So we expect this project will evolve in the next few years…as we try to optimize the project.”
Hydro-Quebec has the stated goals of gaining expertise on employing renewable energy management and generation technologies near a load centre; mastering the concept of islanding, which is a microgrid operating independent of the main grid; managing demand during peak winter periods; and preparing to transpose the whole system to other settings.
Lac-Megantic becomes a test site for Hydro-Quebec’s new-generation EVLO power storage technology. The utility launched a new subsidiary, EVLO Energy Storage Inc., in December with hopes that the technology will provide a boost to its solar and wind power projects as well as helping to manage consumption peaks on the existing power grid.