Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / Penetanguishene Microgrid

North America / Commercial & demonstration

Penetanguishene Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations7
System facts13
Sources reviewed10
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The Penetanguishene project is a utility distribution-feeder microgrid built beside the former PowerStream Robert Street Municipal Substation, not a town-wide renewable mini-grid. Its physical DER is a 750 kW/500 kWh Samsung lithium-ion battery—only about 40 minutes at rated output—plus five automatic circuit switches, a step-voltage regulator, communications, and KEPCO's MiDAS controller. The project can island one feeder serving roughly 400–440 customers, but no public source establishes installed on-site solar, wind, or fuel-fired generation inside this microgrid boundary.

Research status
PowerStream and KEPCO commissioned the system on June 29, 2016. Canada's Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways registry still labels it operational, with a February 2021 project update and a page modification in June 2023. PowerStream became part of Alectra Utilities in 2017. No asset-specific 2024–2026 operating report, retirement notice, battery augmentation, or replacement has been found, so the best supportable current status is operational as last publicly confirmed—not independently verified continuously operating in 2026.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
44.76877, -79.93368
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Penetanguishene Microgrid?

7 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Alectra Utilities

Corporate/utility successor after PowerStream merged with Enersource and Horizon Utilities in 2017; current asset-level reporting was not located. [4]

Organization

KEPCO

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)

Technology partner, MiDAS control-system developer, project funder, and remote-monitoring participant. [2][8]

Organization

PowerStream

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

PowerStream Inc.

Original Ontario distribution-utility host, co-developer, owner/operator, and operator of the system from its Vaughan System Control Centre. [2][6]

Organization

Samsung SDI

Lithium-ion battery supplier identified by EPRI and a regional sustainability report. [6][7]

Organization

Town of Penetanguishene

Municipal host/community partner; the project is adjacent to the Robert Street substation and serves customers on a local feeder. [2][3]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

Storage
1 MW [1]
Battery power and energy
750 kW/500 kWh lithium-ion, equivalent to 0.67 hours (40 minutes) at full rated discharge. Older descriptions calling it a '1 MW' system are not supported by the commissioned nameplate. [2][3]
Served boundary
A single distribution feeder serving about 400 customers in PowerStream's launch release and about 440 households in KEPCO reporting. A separate 7.2 MW figure describes the feeder/system scale, not installed DER capacity. [2][9]
Backup-duration claim
PowerStream said the system could supply several hours of backup to approximately 400 customers. Because 500 kWh cannot sustain 750 kW for several hours, that statement necessarily assumes load shedding and/or a substantially lower critical-load level; the public release does not quantify it. [2]
Energy mix
Normally Ontario grid electricity; while islanded, energy previously stored from that grid. The controls were designed to accommodate future distributed generation, but no validated source shows commissioned PV, wind, CHP, or diesel generation within the project. [2][3]
Reported funding split
A 2017 technical presentation reports KEPCO contributing C$2.7 million and PowerStream C$1.8 million. These are partner-reported contributions, not a verified final all-in capital cost. [8]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery energy storage

Samsung SDI

500 kWh stationary lithium-ion battery coupled to a 750 kW power-conversion system; exact cell, rack, and inverter model numbers were not disclosed. [6][7][3]

02

Microgrid control

KEPCO — MiDAS (Microgrid Distributed Energy Resource Automation System)

Coordinates automatic grid/island transitions, battery dispatch, protection/switching, voltage management, and remote operation. [2][9]

03

Distribution automation

Model not publicly disclosed

Five automatic circuit switches, a step-voltage regulator, automation, communications, and SCADA/control-centre interfaces. [10][9]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Operating modes

    MiDAS was demonstrated in grid-connected and autonomous island modes and is intended to optimize operation without continuous operator intervention while retaining control-centre and KEPCO remote visibility. [2][10]

  • Purpose

    The installation tested feeder-level resilience, voltage support, peak/energy management, distribution automation, and a commercializable Korean-Canadian microgrid control package—not primarily renewable-energy production. [2][6]

  • Performance evidence

    A later industry case study says the served area experienced no power interruptions after implementation, but it does not provide the observation window, event count, or independent utility reliability indices. It should be treated as a case-study claim rather than audited SAIDI/SAIFI evidence. [10]

  • Current-data gap

    The federal registry is the latest asset-specific public status found. Alectra's current innovation pages do not provide battery condition, availability, dispatch, replacement, or outage-performance data for Penetanguishene; absence from a marketing list is not evidence of retirement. [3][5]

Provenance

10 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    PowerStream's Utility-Scaled Microgrid Becomes Operational

    PowerStream Inc. via GlobeNewswire · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Penetanguishene Microgrid

    Government of Canada / Natural Resources Canada · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Projects & New Investments

    Alectra Inc. · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Penetanguishene Microgrid Demonstration

    Electric Power Research Institute · Primary source

  7. [7]
    2016 Sustainability Report Card

    Sustainable Severn Sound · Primary source

  8. [8]
    KEPCO-PowerStream Microgrid Demonstration Project

    International Electric Research Exchange / KEPCO · Primary source

  9. [9]
    KEPCO Microgrid Demonstration in Penetanguishene

    elec4 / KEPCO project reporting · Secondary research

  10. [10]
    PowerStream and KEPCO Utility-Scale Microgrid Case Study

    Global Smart Energy Federation · Secondary research

Continue exploring

Related projects in North America