New Microgrid Project for North Bay

May 14, 2017

North Bay will soon be the site of a $4.5-million electrical micro grid that will connect Memorial Gardens, the YMCA, aquatic centre and Thomson Park, reported Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles last week in The Nugget.

The project is expected to reduce the city’s energy costs and provide more than $100,000 in heating cost savings at Memorial Gardens and the YMCA pool.

North Bay Hydro expects the micro grid to be self-sufficient, generating electricity from solar panels and natural gas-powered co-generation. A large-scale battery will store unused electricity.

The grid will be located between Memorial Gardens and the YMCA. Construction could begin this year.

At present, all four facilities — Memorial Gardens, The YMCA, aquatic centre and Thomson Park — have different electrical services. The microgrid will connect all four. “So what we’re going to do is eliminate that and put in a micro grid and connect them all,” says North Bay Hydro CEO Todd Wilcox in the article. “Attached to the micro grid we’re going to put a solar PV generation onto the aquatic centre roof. We will put a co-generation plant in between the arena and the aquatic centre and that will supply energy to the micro grid. The waste heat will be used to warm the pool and heat the arena.”

Read the full article: www.nugget.ca/2017/05/12/hydro-unveils-new-energy-project.