NRCan Energy Innovation Program - Smart Grid Demonstration Call

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include:

• Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada, including:
• For-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as electricity and gas utilities, electricity system operators, transmissions owners and operators, companies, industry associations, research associations, and standards organizations
• Indigenous organizations and groups
• Community groups
• Canadian academic institutions
• Provincial, territorial, regional, and municipal governments and their departments and agencies where applicable

Summary

Eligible projects include:

The Demonstration Focus Area will provide support to projects which demonstrate innovation in smart grid technologies/solutions, and market or contract mechanisms (innovations may be jurisdiction specific). Specifically, the objectives of this focus area are to:

• Accelerate grid modernization to better utilize the capacity of existing electricity assets; increase the reliability, resiliency, and flexibility of the power system; and increase the penetration of distributed energy resources.
• Improve customer accessibility of grid-integrated solutions which provide more affordable energy and lower total greenhouse gas emissions.
• Sufficiently represent a given electric system to meaningfully inform future deployment considerations.
• Address well-defined market gaps with a proposal to build business solutions.
• Advance inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) in the electricity sector.

Mandatory criteria:

• Involve the electricity distribution system
• Share knowledge and insights to enhance public awareness

Overhead

Overhead is eligible at a rate of 15%.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

The Smart Grid Demonstration call has two phases.

Expression of Interest 

To apply to the Smart Grid Demonstration, applicants must complete and submit their expression of interest (EOI) application via email to NRCan (EIP-CCUS.PIE-CUSC@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca) by 9:59pm MST on January 10, 2024. The EOI application template (fillable PDF format) can be downloaded from NRCan’s website. 

As the EOI is a competitive stage with evaluation, applicants must complete the RMS record and submit for internal approvals in addition to submitting via NRCan.

More than one expression of interest can be submitted per organization for the CCUS RD&D, provided that each submission is for a unique project. Organizations cannot submit multiple expressions of interest for the same project.

Full Project Proposal 

Applicants that are invited to the full project proposal (FPP) phase will be notified by NRCan, and will receive information on the submission requirements and the timelines.

Funds available 

The Smart Grid Demonstration is open to all eligible applicants. Program funding for this call is open to projects that request between $500,000 and $6,000,000 (comprising up to 50% of total project costs).

Prior to signing contribution agreements, on an annual basis, and upon project completion, applicants will be required to disclose all sources of funding on individual projects, including contributions from other federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal governments and industry sources.

Collaboration and leveraging are strongly encouraged for all program components, and these will be included among the selection criteria.