Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency can take many forms such as: replacing streetlights with LED bulbs; commercial and multi-unit residential building insulation retrofits; energy controls and management solutions; and, a multitude of other activities.
The outcome of an Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference held in Winnipeg in August 2016 was a report titled "Financing Energy Efficiency Retrofits in the Build Environment". The report included an analysis on the opportunity of using long term energy savings to pay for energy efficiency improvements.
The report stated:
"This model is particularly useful when participants are able to execute an operating lease arrangement and wish to transfer risk to a third party. It has wide applicability and can be adapted to use commercial or public financing. A more consistent approach to identifying and applying standard upgrades and creating replicable outcomes would enhance investor confidence in this model.
The Canadian Green Fund has been designed to deliver the "more consistent approach" that the report says is required.
A microgrid is a localized grouping of electricity sources and loads that normally operates connected to and synchronous with the traditional centralized electrical grid (macrogrid), but can disconnect and function autonomously as physical and/or economic conditions dictate.
This design provides a way to effectively integrate various sources of distributed generation (DG), especially Renewable Energy Sources (RES). It also provides a good solution for supplying power in case of an emergency by having the ability to change between islanded mode and grid-connected mode.
In a microgrid, energy storage is able to perform multiple functions, such as ensuring power quality, including frequency and voltage regulation, smoothing the output of renewable energy sources, providing backup power for the system and playing crucial role in cost optimization.
Microgrid energy storage includes all of electrical, pressure, gravitational, flywheel, and heat storage technologies.
Canadian Green Fund is working to provide unique funding solutions to accelerate the development of a variety of energy efficiency projects.