Alba Nova Project: A Smart Grid Pilot Using Advanced Battery Storage

Lead Proponent

Equilibrium Engineering

Project Outcomes

Equilibrium Engineering won the $ 1 million dollar grand prize of the Impact Canada Power Forward Challenge for their Alba Nova project, developed in partnership with StorTera, Dalhousie University’s Renewable Energy Storage Lab, and the Berwick Electric Commission.

Through Project Alba Nova, Equilibrium Engineering and their partners introduced a unique smart grid solution that integrates intelligent energy storage, energy efficiency, renewable energy generation and demand-side response.

The solution was demonstrated in the Town of Berwick, Nova Scotia. It involved retrofitting ten homes with solar PV panels, energy efficiency measures, and intelligent battery systems. Two large commercial battery systems were also installed at the town hall and ice hockey rink. The solution provided benefits to customers through maximising their consumption of solar energy, using low tariff grid energy, and providing back-up during outages. It also supported the grid through reducing the peak demand, increasing the utilisation of renewable energy, and stabilising the grid.  

The key innovation resulting from this project is the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that manages data and control ranging from battery cell information to sophisticated algorithms that predict the solar energy and energy demand of customers for the day ahead.

This cost-efficient solution resulting from this project can be replicated, and the team has plans to roll it out to other utilities and market segments across Canada and the UK.