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North America / Commercial & demonstration

Sault Ste. Marie

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts18
Sources reviewed11
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The record combines three distinct ideas that should not be treated as one commissioned microgrid: Sault Ste. Marie's broad 2011 Smart Energy Strategy, a later proposed Utility Distribution Microgrid, and the narrower Sault Smart Grid (SSG) that PUC actually built. The 2011 strategy was not implemented as conceived, and PUC de-scoped the later microgrid business case to SSG. Launched in 2023, SSG is an operational, community-wide distribution-automation and voltage-optimization system serving roughly 33,600 customers; it is not an islandable microgrid and includes no project-owned generation or storage. Its value is measurable grid efficiency, outage mitigation, and a platform for future DER integration. In 2025 it saved an estimated 14.0 GWh, reduced peak demand by 2.732 MW, and prevented 906,201 customer-minutes of interruption, although its annual net benefit was still negative after operating costs. NRCan continued to label its funding file Active, but PUC's later reports establish that the physical system is fully operational.

Research status
Operational since 2023 as the Sault Smart Grid, a citywide distribution-modernization project rather than an islandable microgrid. The earlier Smart Energy Strategy and Utility Distribution Microgrid concepts were not built in their original forms.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
46.50724, -84.32694
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 Sault Ste. Marie?

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

Organization

Black & Veatch

Engineering, procurement, construction, system-integration, testing, and commissioning partner [5][8]

Organization

Eco

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

Organization

Natural Resources Canada

Federal Smart Grid Program funder [7][5]

Organization

PowerTel Utilities Contractors

Field construction contractor [5]

Organization

PUC Distribution Inc.

Owner, regulated local electricity distributor, and operator of the Sault Smart Grid [4][5][6]

Organization

PUC Services Inc.

Project manager for implementation [5]

Organization

SSMPUC

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

Organization

Survalent

Supplier of the SurvalentONE advanced distribution management system and SmartVU interface [5]

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.

Service territory
Approximately 33,600 customers across 342 km²; the system includes two 115 kV-to-34.5 kV transformers, 14 distribution substations, and 12.5 kV and 4.2 kV circuits [5]
Implemented scope
Advanced distribution management, distribution automation/FLISR, volt/VAR optimization and dynamic voltage reduction, outage management, communications, and integration of legacy AMI, GIS, and customer systems; no generation or energy storage was installed by SSG [5][4]
Voltage-optimization coverage
All twelve 12.5 kV substations were equipped for VVO/DVR; distribution-automation feeder coverage was reduced from the original concept during value engineering and budget control [5]
Implementation timeline
Planning ran from 2018 to April 2021, EPC mobilization from May 2021 to January 2022, engineering/construction from February 2022 to March 2023, commissioning from October 2022 to March 2023, and optimization through September 2023 [5]
2025 efficiency result
Estimated 2.34% electricity saving, equal to 14,035,715 kWh and C$1,708,422 of avoided purchased power; PUC describes technical potential of up to 2.7% [6][4]
2025 resilience result
Fourteen FLISR events and 906,201 avoided customer-minutes of interruption, compared with about 638,000 in 2024; PUC also reports more than 10,000 customers spared outages [6][4]
2025 peak and emissions result
2,732 kW peak-demand reduction from a 117 MW peak and 517.35 tCO2e of annual GHG reduction, below the project's revised 785 tCO2e target [6]
Cost and funding
NRCan lists a C$42.806 million total project and C$10.6265 million federal contribution commitment. PUC's March 31, 2023 completion report recorded C$31,359,457.62 spent and C$7,658,222 of federal contribution received to that date; these figures describe different reporting dates/scopes rather than a single final cost [7][5]

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

Advanced distribution management system

Survalent — SurvalentONE / SmartVU

Common platform for SCADA, FLISR, VVO/DVR, and outage-management functions [5]

02

Voltage-regulator control

Eaton Cooper Power — CL-7

Field regulator controls integrated into the voltage-optimization scheme [5]

03

Transformer tap-changer control

Beckwith Electric — M-2001D

Substation transformer control used by the VVO/DVR implementation [5]

04

Substation monitoring and feeder automation

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories — SEL-2414 and SEL-651R

Transformer monitor and recloser control hardware used in the field automation deployment [5]

05

Communications

Model not publicly disclosed

Fiber and cellular communications link field devices and substations to the control platform [5]

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.

  • Architecture

    SSG changes voltage setpoints, detects and isolates faults, restores healthy feeder sections, and consolidates outage and asset data. It cannot intentionally island the city and has no dedicated generation or storage, so describing it as a commissioned microgrid overstates the delivered scope. [5][4]

  • Project evolution

    The 2011 Smart Energy Strategy lacked a durable implementation/accountability structure. A 2016 Navigant business-case review then examined a Utility Distribution Microgrid, but subsequent PUC reviews de-scoped that proposal into the more economical SSG distribution-modernization program. [9][10][11]

  • DER readiness

    The control and communications platform is intended to support future distributed-energy-resource adoption. That enabling capability should not be confused with DER assets already owned or installed by this project. [5][7]

  • Economics

    The 2025 annual report shows C$1.708 million of purchased-power savings but an annual net benefit of negative C$278,015 after operating costs; cumulative net benefit remained slightly positive at C$70,770. The result shows technical savings do not automatically translate to a positive result in every year. [6]

  • Delivery risk

    Pandemic disruption, supply-chain constraints, regulatory timing, and scope adjustments delayed delivery. The March 2023 public report described the project as roughly 85% complete at its reporting cutoff; later owner material confirms full operation. [5][4][6]

Provenance

11 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 2021-02-26

  2. [2]
    http://www.saultstar.com/2014/01/23/council-supports-micro-grid-strategy

    saultstar.com · Archived source · captured 2021-02-26

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Sault Smart Grid

    PUC Services Inc. · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Sault Smart Grid Project Completion Public Report

    PUC Distribution Inc. · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Sault Smart Grid Project Annual Report 2025

    PUC Distribution Inc. · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Sault Smart Grid

    Natural Resources Canada · Primary source

  8. [8]
  9. [9]
    Person, Place, Policy: Lessons from Sault Ste. Marie's Smart Energy Strategy

    Wilson Center / Great Lakes Policy Research Network · Secondary research

  10. [10]
    PUC Distribution Rate Application Supporting Evidence

    Ontario Energy Board filing by PUC Distribution Inc. · Primary source

  11. [11]
    Sault Ste. Marie City Council Agenda, November 20, 2017

    City of Sault Ste. Marie · Primary source

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