Hello OCFMA Energy Subcommittee Members,

I hope this message finds you well and that everyone is healthy and staying safe during these uncertain and unforeseen times.

I would like to reach out to everyone regarding a current capital expansion project Lambton College is currently undertaking. As part of this expansion project, Lambton is currently in the process of replacing our 300 kW emergency diesel generator for our main South Building to a 500-550 kW natural gas emergency generator. Although this is currently only being used for standby power, I have been in discussions with some of our contractors, local MOE representatives and energy companies that with the appropriate level of upgrades and features, there is a good possibility that we could use this generator to power our facility to help shed our electricity load during Ontario’s top 5 peak demand periods (we are currently a class A customer for this building) as well as for demand response (DR) programs.

I wanted to reach out to everyone before our June 2^nd quarterly meeting as this project is currently already in the works.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, using an emergency gas generator for non-emergency situations requires more stringent environmental regulations than the U.S. EPA’s (i.e. reduction in GHG emissions).

Under the MOE’s Environmental Protection Act (Section 9(1)), using a standby backup generator for peak shaving or for DR would require one to receive a Certificate of Approval (COA) under O. Reg. 524/98 or an EASR (Environmental Activity and Sector Registry) registration which falls under O. Reg. 1/17: REGISTRATIONS UNDER PART II.2 OF THE ACT – ACTIVITIES REQUIRING ASSESSMENT OF AIR EMISSIONS

– the more efficient process.

I wanted to reach out to everyone to see if anyone has done this before or is in the process of doing so. If yes:

1.       What has been some of the challenges, successes and/or failures?

2.       What route did you seek approval through – COA or EASR?

3.       Examples of makes and models that are environmentally compliant?

4.       Impact on life expectancy of your gas generator?

5.       Issues with your interconnection agreements with your LDCs (i.e. back feeding into the grid, reduced demand, etc.)?

6.       Connectivity issues through BAS or manual switches?

I will send this question over the OCFMA website under this committee if you are more comfortable answering the questions through that portal as well.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

Thank you and take care,

PC

• This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Paul.