NB Power, Siemens and UNB launch Smart Grid Innovation Network
FREDERICTON – A new partnership is providing local and global companies with a new testing platform to drive innovative business ideas for the global energy markets.
Siemens Canada, NB Power and the University of New Brunswick unveiled the The Smart Grid Innovation Network (SGIN) on Thursday.
SGIN will offer businesses a venue to design, develop and test smart grid related products and services, offering aspiring start-ups and established companies a testing environment to overcome technology hurdles.
“This Smart Grid Innovation Network is Siemens’ newest investment in New Brunswick, and we are incredibly excited about SGIN as a catalyst for innovation and development in the business community with smart grid ready products and services as the outcome – not only to support smart grid deployment here in New Brunswick but to promote it throughout the Siemens world and beyond,” said Robert Hardt, president and CEO of Siemens Canada.
The SGIN is comprised of three interconnected labs, each with a number of virtual and physical lab elements. These include: Smart Grid Research Lab at the University of New Brunswick; Interoperability Lab at Siemens; and Products and Services Lab at NB Power.
“While our primary goal is to transform the electricity system in New Brunswick to bring customers greater value and services, we also have a tremendous opportunity here to help local businesses get their smart energy products market-ready,” said NB Power president and CEO Gaëtan Thomas. “This new network will provide local and global companies a chance to build on the research and development already happening here and promote greater innovation for the benefit of New Brunswickers.”
Beyond just the physical labs, SGIN will offer a single point of contact for local and global companies for smart grid related development and testing, as well as provide research and development testing. To help with this, SGIN will host workshops and conferences to engage with and exchange knowledge among users and potential users of the network.
Siemens will invest more than $1 million in funds and in-kind support over the next five years into the SGIN and its testing environment, known as the Interoperability Lab. NB Power will invest about $2 million in funds and in-kind support in its Product and Services Lab; and UNB has committed more than $2 million in cash and in-kind support, including National Science Engineering Research Council project research funding, to the venture.
At the government level, SGIN is receiving a non-repayable contribution of $2 million from the federal government through ACOA’s Business Development Program at UNB for the creation of a Living Lab that will support the smart-grid power management research and development activities.
In addition, Opportunities NB is investing $840,000 on behalf of the provincial government.