Canada’s first energy storage-based Virtual Power Plant 

The lights are on at the new Virtual Power Plant in Edmonton’s Blatchford neighbourhood.

EPCOR, in partnership with the City of Edmonton, Landmark Group of Companies, Solartility, Sonnen, Emissions Reduction Alberta, and the University of Alberta, is powering a virtual power plant (VPP) – a group of homes all producing and storing power, managed as a single unit.

Virtual power plants like this are already a reality in Germany, Italy, Utah, California and Australia, and a demand management VPP operates in Ontario.  

How it works

• Each home has solar panels and a 5-kilowatt (kW) battery with energy storage capacity of 20 kWh. The average home without an EV charger has a peak power draw of 2-2.5 kW, leaving plenty of power in the battery for supporting other nearby demand. 

• VPP customers can combine their energy production to buy, sell and use in bulk. This means greater market participation for customers and more power supply options for the grid operator.

• The VPP operator (Solartility) collects the energy and manages participation in the electricity market for homeowners, so they can benefit from buying or selling power with the best timing for good pricing.

Moving electricity to the right place, at the right time

We work together with the virtual power plant operator to make sure electricity goes where it’s needed most. Our cutting-edge Advanced Distribution Management System connects the VPP to the grid, allowing us to manage power flow and demand efficiently in real time.

When VPP homes produce more power than they use, homeowners can sell the extra power back to the grid. And when electricity prices are low, our system can charge their home batteries – so that energy is ready to use or sell later when it’s worth more.

From small scale to endless potential and more reliability

Eight Blatchford net-zero homes are currently part of the network and 18 more will be built and occupied by the end of next year. The project aims to expand to 100 homes by mid-2027. 

EPCOR is preparing for projected growth in electricity demand, and changes in generation and use. A successful virtual power plant creates more solutions to increase power capacity, responsibly: With the cost of solar panels and batteries already covered in the home purchase price, VPP participant customers see savings in energy bills, an opportunity to sell energy and an overall return of about $300/year per home. With more low-emission electricity supply for our grid, all EPCOR customers enjoy more capacity for their day-to-day needs, sustainably.  

By participating in this pilot project, we’re evaluating the process and challenges of the VPP model and the potential of larger scale operations to power up a sustainable, safe and reliable future.

Fifty per cent of the project costs are covered by Emissions Reduction Alberta from the Government of Alberta’s Technology Innovation Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund. The project partners contribute the rest of the costs.