Facilitating the creation of a more intelligent power grid

Saint John Energy’s Smart Grid Roadmap

Saint John Energy is an electrical utility that resells power purchased from the provincial electrical utility, NB Power. Saint John Energy owns 12 substations and services more than 36,000 local New Brunswick customers with annual energy sales of 950 GWh, and our team was engaged to develop a smart grid strategy roadmap.

Saint John Energy leveraged their existing smart grid infrastructure to participate in the PowerShift Atlantic Project—a research and demonstration project using smart grid technology to find more efficient ways to integrate wind power and balance the Maritime’s electrical grid.

We began by reviewing the utility’s business processes to identify areas of potential improvements from an operational, financial, and asset management perspective. By utilizing the findings, we then identified and documented potential opportunities to leverage smart grid technologies. The result? Our team provided a comprehensive recommendation detailing a strategic path forward for a Smart Grid program.

The investigation also allowed us to determine how Saint John Energy could participate in NB Power’s Reduce and Shift Demand (RASD) project. RASD is a multifaceted, 10-year plan that includes utility programs for industrial, business, and residential customers that is targeting to reduce provincial demand by 635 MW by 2035 via customer awareness, energy efficiency incentives, changes to policy, standards and codes, and technology investment.