April 9, 2024 – Ontario is launching a new round of the Grid Innovation Fund—worth $9.5 million—to support projects that will make the province’s electricity system more efficient.

The Ministry of Energy is focusing this year’s funding on transportation and heating and cooling. The 2024 call seeks project proposals that demonstrate how electrification can be achieved in a way that helps address the province’s growing electricity demand in the transportation, and space and water heating and cooling sectors while maintaining grid reliability, sustainability, and affordability for ratepayers.

The two Streams under this call are:

STREAM #1 – Electric vehicles (EVs), including light-, medium-, heavy-duty vehicles, and rail transit.

These projects would demonstrate how EVs could support electricity supply by injecting electricity back into the grid at times of high demand, and how EV owners could benefit from aligning EV charging with periods when grid demand is low.

Stream 1A involves vehicle-to-grid (V2G), while Stream 1B involves managed charging (V1G) and vehicle-to-home/-building (V2H/V2B).

STREAM #2 – Space and water heating, across all sectors.

These projects would demonstrate how thermal storage and new technologies could help manage demand from heating and cooling, and lower emissions.

Stream 2A involves small- to medium-scale heating and thermal storage. Stream 2B involves large-scale heating with thermal storage.

Administered by IESO, this latest round of the Grid Innovation Fund will start accepting proposals from May 27 to July 21 (2024).

Download the Grid Innovation Fund Proposal Guideline (PDF): IESO-Draft-GIF-Project-Proposal-Guidelines