EQUS REA: Canada’s 1st Member-Owned Rural Smart Grid Project

Lead Proponent

EQUS REA

Project Objectives

This project will deploy a next generation Ultra–Rural Radio Frequency mesh network to increase penetration of renewable energy sources, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). The project includes an integrated system to collect data, monitor and configure the energy load profile and verify emission offsets. The EQUS service area spans 26 municipal districts and counties in Alberta. This project will address challenges associated with serving rural customers such as terrain, distance, accessibility and communications.

Expected Results

EQUS will improve its utility and customer interface, increase customer engagement and awareness while improving response times and repairs to outages for farms, residential, commercial and industrial sites in rural areas. This project will increase renewable energy sources and integrate energy storage, reduce GHG emissions and modernize electricity systems ultimately increasing system efficiency, flexibility and reliability.