WEEKLY MEETING - Sept 9 2010

Posted by Dianne Paron 
 

President Frank chaired the meeting: moment of silent reflection, toast to Canada and Rotary around the world.  There were no guests or visiting Rotarians at this meeting.      

Announcements were made, as follows.... 

  • Birthdays and Anniversaries in the following week
  • Speaker schedule for next 4 weeks was announced
  • Honourary Member Hazel McCallion running for another 4-year term as Mississauga Mayor (she has been Mayor since 1978, she will turn 90 in February 2011) - she claims this will be her last run
  • Don't forget the Parkinson Foundation SuperWalk this Saturday
  • Aberfoyle Fall Fair on Saturday as well - we are supervising the Childrens Area "Bouncy Kastle"
  • Road clean-up in Aberfoyle next Saturday (Sept 18th) - meet at 8am at the Aberfoyle Mill parking lot

Happy $$:  Margaret was Sergeant at Arms

Rotary Foundation 50/50 draw:  No winner this week

SPEAKER:      BRIAN COWAN "Smart Meters"

Frank introduced Brian.  Brian is currently Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Guelph Hydro Electric System Inc. and has served on that Board since 2001.

Brian first explained abut the "smart grid" concept that was triggered by the blackout that affected much of North America a few years ago, and how it will use sensors, monitoring, communication, automation and computers to improve the flexibility, security, reliability, efficiency and safety of the electricity system.  Outages would be identified quickly and demand rerouted so that there would be no ripple effect across distribution networks leading to that type of massive outage again.  Guelph Hydro actually started their implementation back in the 1960's with their hot water heater program and being able to control that demand.  Smart grids are currently being developed and rolled out worldwide as demand for electricity threatens to outstrip current generation capabilities, and to deal with the vulnerabilities in the existing distribution systems.

Various initiatives (eg. Community Energy Plan) and provincial statutes (eg. Green Energy Act, Places to Grow) are all positioned to effect reductions in consumption (hydro and water) and greenhouse emissions.  The Green Energy Act in particular places targets to be met and provides changes to the approvals process for alternative energy generation (eg. solar, wind) along with opportunities for long-term 'green' renewable power generation (eg. MicroFIT program) on a smaller scale, as an alternative to building new large scale power generating facilities.

Why Smart Meters?  A few years ago the Province mandated that every hydro meter in Ontario be converted to a digital smart meter by the end of 2010.  These meters will be read every minute and the data transmitted over a wireless network - millions of data points that will help distribution companies better understand power demands.  By mid-2011 these smart meters will feed a new "time of use" billing system that will see consumers billed for their hydro usage based on what time of day their consumption takes place.  But at the same time these smart meters will then empower consumers to be able to control their consumption, and ultimately their monthly hydro bill, by spreading out their usage to blocks of time where the cost of the power will be less expensive.  The time of use pricing system will have 3 levels:  peak, mid-peak and off-peak. 

Guelph Hydro is providing its customers with an enhanced version of the digital smart meter that incorporates a ZigBee chip that will enable consumers to monitor their own usage in their homes using in-home devices or over the internet.  The ZigBee technology is also being adopted by some appliance manufacturers (eg. LG) to facilitate home devices automation, enabling those appliances and devices to take advantage of wireless communications to, for example, operate during the off-peak hours so as to effect the most cost-effective use of that appliance.

Brian explained tht all pricing to consumers for energy (hydro, gas) must be first approved by the Ontario Energy Board, and they review pricing by the various utilities twice a year, with any changes to unit costs for energy taking place on May 1st and November 1st of each year.

In Closing:   Bill Smith thanked Brian for his interesting and informative presentation and presented him with a certificate, advising him that we would be making a donation to the Polio Plus eradication program.

Frank ended with an inspirational thought of the day and then adjourned the meeting.