FEBRUARY 2014
H
business elite canada
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take them through the next
five years.
Currently underway is a $5
million investment in the de-
velopment of an energy hub
management system which
combines expertise across
WISE. Partners include The
Ontario Centres of Excel-
lence, Hydro One Networks,
Energent, Milton Hydro Dis-
tribution, and the Ontario
Power Authority. As well,
WISE members are develop-
ing a unique controller for
use in microgridmicro grid
applications incorporating
renewable energy production
and storage as part of a $4.4M
research and development
initiative.
World-class smart grid re-
search and labs at Waterloo
are helping to address criti-
cal questions such as how do
we control short circuit levels
in distribution systems while
supporting increasing pen-
etration of renewable energy
and avoiding damage to sys-
tem components, and how do
we combine power, commu-
nication and information sys-
tems to develop novel smart
grid solutions. In addition, re-
searchers in the newly formed
Information Systems and Sci-
ence for Energy laboratory
are developing solutions for a
highly dynamic next genera-
tion grid system with elastic
loads, two way power flows
and millions of points of con-
trol through methods such
as stochastic analysis, large
scale simulation, data min-
ing, and machine learning.
To enable large-scale penetra-
tion of renewable energy stor-
age and service mobile energy
markets, researchers at Wa-
terloo are developing novel
nanomaterials such as lithium-
sulfur, zinc-air and graphene-
based composites for use in
electrochemical energy stor-
age. There are also a grow-
ing number of WISE members
investigating methods, gener-
ate ‘negawatts’ through fine-
grain control of loads and to
harvest energy from abundant
ambient sources – fluid mo-
tion, kinetic energy, micro-
wave frequencies etc. – for
micropower applications.
Presently, WISE is tackling
head-on growing issues such
as the need for clean, acces-
sible and affordable energy in
an effort to look for alterna-
tives to petroleum based en-
ergy sources, and a renewed
focus on demand side solu-
tions given increasing global
demand for energy. “We be-
lieve strongly that our eco-
nomic well-being, and earth’s
well-being, depends on sus-
tainable management of our
energy endowment,” closes
Tracey. “The grand energy
challenges are the ones that
keep us up at night.”
