IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2017 - 87

ESSs can perform peak load shaving and valley filling
to increase the efficiency of the generator and
reduce operating and maintenance costs.

The Kasabonika Lake First Nation (KLFN) community is
a member of the Shibogama First Nations Tribal Council
and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation: Treaty 9. The community
is located 1,300 km northwest of Toronto and 500 km north
of Thunder Bay, has a population of 914, and is accessible by
winter roads that allow for a maximum weight of 80,000 lb,
although 40,000 lb is a frequent and current restriction due
to reduced ice thickness. The community is also accessible
by air; however, round-trip travel from Thunder Bay costs
CAN$1,500.
The KLFN energy demand is supplied by diesel fuel,
which is transported via winter roads and stored in large
tanks. Currently, the community's microgrid consists of one
1,500-kW, one 1,000-kW, and one 600-kW diesel engines.
Data provided by Hydro One Remote Communities show a
peak demand of 850 kW and energy demand of 12 MWh/
day, resulting in total fuel consumption of 1.0 to 1.2 million l/year and an emission equivalent of 3,600 tons of CO2
per year. Considering the relatively high diesel fuel price of
CAN$1.80/l, the overall operation and maintenance (O&M)
cost of the microgrid is CAN$3.7 million/year. Hence, the
september/october 2017

750
(kW)

Kasabonika Lake First Nation

average cost of energy is CAN$0.84/kWh, which is significantly higher than energy prices in southern Ontario
(approximately CAN$0.10/kWh).
The electricity demand at KLFN has reached 90%
of its supply capacity; consequently, the community
recently installed a 1,500-kW diesel generator replacing a
400-kW generator to overcome load restrictions that negatively affected social and economic progress. In an attempt to
evaluate the impact of the RES deployment on the community, four wind turbines with a total capacity of 60 kW have
been installed. A study considering 300 kW of wind power,
with an estimated energy yield of 436 MWh/year (which represents 10% of the community's annual energy demand), has
been carried out. In addition, an extra 395 MWh/year has
been estimated to be obtained from 300-kW PV panels, covering 9% of annual demand. Under these conditions, RES
power penetration levels can be as large as 100% for a given
hour, as shown in Figure 5. Under these circumstances, BESSs
are needed to guarantee the microgrid's stable and reliable
performance, while considerably reducing fuel consumption
and, thus, operating costs.

500
250
0
1

9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
t (h)
(a)

1,000
750
(kW)

across the country. Currently, these communities rely predominantly on diesel-based generation, which presents
various economic, social, and -e nvironmental challenges.
From the economic perspective, diesel dependency results
in a high electricity prices-in the range of $CD0.45-2.50/kWh,
depending on the communities' transportation access. A
majority of N&RCs are only accessible via winter roads, the
availability of which is limited and depends on weather
conditions. These issues result in energy scarcity in some
N&RCs, which subsequently affects their social and economic development. Furthermore, diesel-based generation
contributes to environmental problems, such as greenhouse
gas emissions and black soot, which also negatively impact
the N&RCs.
In view of these challenges, there has been a significant
effort on the part of government agencies, utilities, and universities to tackle microgrid-related problems in N&RCs. As
a result, several N&RCs are increasing or planning to increase
the share of RESs such as wind and PV in their microgrids. In
this context, ESSs are a key enabling element in the successful
implementation of such projects. In the following, we consider
examples of the role of ESSs in N&RCs across Canada's provinces and territories; similar projects exist or are underway in
various other remote communities across the world.

500
250
0

9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
t (h)
(b)

Demand

Wind + PV

figure 5. The RES and demand profiles at KLFN for 300-kW
wind power and 300-kW solar power for (a) a typical summer
day and (b) a typical winter day.
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