BluWave-ai Along with 4 Ontario Utilities Launch Province-Wide EV and Distribution Grid Load Management AI Project
August 10, 2026
Building on 2.5 years of operationalization of BluWave-ai EV Everywhere™ across Canadian electricity systems, now working with Oshawa Power, Oakville Hydro, Enova Power, and Essex Powerlines in Ontario as the province onboards a projected 500,000 EVs
BluWave-ai along with four Ontario utilities announce the launch of a province-wide EV and distribution grid load management artificial intelligence AI project. This project, building on the previously announced production-scale deployment of the BluWave-ai EV Everywhere™ platform across Canada, is deploying Made-in-Canada technology based on a suite of patents that has now expanded to 15 granted and over 60 filed internationally.
Working with Oshawa Power, Oakville Hydro, Enova Power, and Essex Powerlines, the initiative will leverage connected EVs to balance local distribution grid constraints, including substation and transformer loads, while also helping to stabilize the grid for the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). This grid-balancing expansion arrives at a critical juncture as Ontario accelerates from its current base of 300,000 EVs toward a projected 500,000 EVs on the road by 2029*. This builds on BluWave-ai’s previously announced country-wide deployments in Canada.
This new large-scale project directly builds on the success of when BluWave-ai completed Canada’s first AI-driven multiple EV OEM demand response events to support the electrical system at Hydro Ottawa in 2024. During those events, the platform successfully orchestrated vehicle-to-cloud telemetry across multiple automotive brands to pause active charging sessions and alleviate localized grid congestion. This operational journey originally began with a $4.8M commercialization project co-funded by the IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund and supported by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), which pioneered the initial BluWave-ai EV Everywhere™ product to turn EVs into managed, distributed storage for electricity grids.
“When just 33% of Canada’s current 1 million EVs get on the platform, it offers grids across the country approximately 2.5 GW of power capacity and 20 GWh of storage capacity—which is enough to power the entire British Columbia grid for two hours alone,” said Devashish Paul, CEO and founder of BluWave-ai. “By scaling this into an Ontario-wide network with forward-thinking utilities like Oshawa Power, Oakville Hydro, Enova, and Essex Powerlines, we are taking the lessons from our early IESO-backed projects and moving them into widespread grid operationalization. We can balance local substation constraints and the bulk IESO grid simultaneously, turning a potential grid liability into a massive, distributed battery as Ontario scales toward half a million EVs. Once the grid gets to 500,000 EV this puts an additional 1-2GW of load on the grid in evenings on top of 4 GW of utility scale battery charging that is expected. Having a made in Ontario AI software platform that can smooth out system level congestion that also reacts to distribution grid constraints is a win win for LDC’s and the overall IESO system.”
“Canada’s competitive advantage depends on more than inventing new technologies. It depends on giving Canadian companies the opportunity to commercialize them here at home. BluWave-ai’s partnership with Ontario utilities demonstrates the power of buying, deploying, and scaling Canadian innovation,” said Patrick Searle, President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Innovators. “When we create pathways for homegrown companies to grow in Canada, we deliver value for customers, strengthen our economic sovereignty, and build the next generation of global innovation leaders.”
Below is a summary of the key performance milestones and findings to date:
- Massive Capital Efficiency: Aggregating EVs was found to be ~55 times more capital-efficient than deploying equivalent utility-scale battery storage.
- Infrastructure Deferra The platform has the potential to deliver an infrastructure deferral value of $2.3M to $7.9M per 1,000 EVs, depending on local grid conditions.
- Mitigating the ‘Timer Peak’: The system achieved 100% target adherence, reducing peak demand by up to 32% by managing the surge caused by EVs scheduling charging at the start of low overnight rate periods.
- Consumer Acceptance: By design, satisfying the EV drivers’ target departure state of charge at their selected time is primary. Opt-out rates averaged only 4%, confirming high consumer acceptance.
“Our service area is expanding rapidly, coupled with a very high rate of EV penetration,” said Greig Cameron, President and CEO at Enova Power. “Through this project, we’re gaining valuable insights into how EVs interact with our grid, and how we can leverage them as an active resource to support load management.”
“Transitioning toward a Distributed System Operator (DSO) model requires intelligent, real-time control over edge-of-grid assets,” said John Avdoulos, President and CEO, Essex Power. “This project allows us to leverage residential EV flexible loads as an active grid resource, moving us closer to our goal of operating an agile, localized market that can seamlessly interact with the bulk system.”
“Like many high-growth communities, Oakville is experiencing ongoing EV adoption, and the associated demand increase to the electricity distribution system,” said Jeff Mocha, Chief Operations and Electrification Officer of Oakville Hydro. “By participating in this Ontario-wide initiative, we are taking a proactive approach to managing future electricity demand. Using AI-enabled charging coordination, we can help reduce the risk of localized grid constraints, support system reliability, and ensure we continue delivering safe, reliable service for our customers.”
“Operating as a Distribution System Operator means finding innovative alternatives to traditional, capital-intensive infrastructure upgrades – saving customers money and maintaining strong reliability,” stated Daniel Arbour, CEO at Oshawa Power. “By deploying BluWave-ai’s AI-driven substation load management, we can maximize our existing distribution assets, intelligently defer physical hardware investments, and maintain structural reliability as EV enrollment grows. By using EV Everywhere we are able to offer our customers EV charging incentives while collecting real-world data we will use to plan the future of the grid for our City.”
Central to this province-wide rollout is BluWave-ai’s robust, open platform compatibility that enables direct communication with a diverse ecosystem of automotive brands. Through rigorous production validation, EV Everywhere™ has proven its capability to manage charging across a wide spectrum of major manufacturers, including Tesla, Kia, Hyundai, GM, Ford, Volvo, BMW, Jaguar, Mini, and Porsche, with more OEMs to come.
“Based on our extensive testing over the past two years in grids across Canada, utilities should prioritize EV curtailment as the primary non-wires alternative resource due to its superior capital efficiency relative to Battery Storage,” said Alex Linchieh, Director of Product Management at BluWave-ai. “BESS assets should be deployed secondarily for ‘firming’ capacity and fast-frequency response (sub-minute) where EV latency (90 seconds) is insufficient. EV capex is paid for by consumers, whereas front-of-the-meter (FOTM) batteries are either paid for by utilities or capitalized by IPPs with utility commits to long-term contracts, so EVs are very attractive from a capital angle. Regardless, by combining EV Everywhere with our Energy Storage Autopilot™, our platform can aggregate the entire pool of EVs and BESS assets as a large energy storage base readily available for utilities and system operators. Our software system demonstrated the capacity to reduce peak EV charging loads by up to 35 percent and on average by 21.7 percent.”
Availability of the Energy Storage Autopilot for FOTM energy storage facilities follows deployment with Area X.O, a multi-sector research and development complex founded by Invest Ottawa, to optimize the performance of grid-scale batteries using BluWave-ai EV Everywhere complemented by BluWave-ai Energy Storage Autopilot to manage grid congestion.
To accelerate these benefits, BluWave-ai recommends that electricity system operators and provincial regulators (such as the OEB, Régie de l’énergie, and BCUC, that count for the largest EV penetration) lower market participation thresholds to 100 kW per market node ( roughly corresponding to 100 EVs per node) aligning with the North American FERC 2222 standard. This will allow utilities to capitalize SaaS expenses for NWAs, and utilize direct EV telemetry for Measurement & Verification (M&V).
For EV Drivers wanting to get on the platform and earn rewards go to: ev-everywhere.ca
- Charge when your electricity rates are lowest
- Power your drive with cleaner energy
- Learn about your energy use with personalized insights
- Support the connected grid of the future
- Drive more sustainably to earn rewards and give back
For utilities and system operators seeking to manage EVs relative to load and storage, click here.
* BluWave-ai analyst projection for 2029. Electric Mobility Canada recently announced that Canada has surpassed the milestone of 1 million electric vehicles registered nationwide, on track to meet the federal mandate of 4.6 million ZEVs on the road by 2030. Ontario alone is facing a projected fleet of 11.5 million EVs by 2050, according to the IESO.
