The Ontario Smart Grid Forum (‘the Forum’) includes member organizations from Ontario’s utility sector, industry associations, non-profit organizations, public agencies and universities working together to propose a vision for a smart grids in Ontario and examine the many components that comprise it. It is supported by the Corporate Partners Committee, which represents more than 45 private sector organizations active in the smart grid space – including, electric vehicles, energy retailers, energy management companies, systems integrators and equipment
manufacturers.
The Forum has been calling for greater dialogue on and research into microgrids since 2009. More recently, the Forum added a sense of urgency to those recommendations because several utilities in the province are already moving ahead with microgrid pilot projects and new service offerings. In some cases, customers and third parties are actually proposing microgrids. In March 2015 the Forum amended its microgrid recommendation to reflect this new urgency as follows:
“Immediate action should be undertaken to address the technical, legal, regulatory, commercial and institutional issues associated with developing a framework for micro-grid investment and the integration of micro-grids with Ontario’s electricity system – starting with a requirement gathering exercise by the utilities sector, consumers and private companies and aided by the regulator.”