Innovation has always been critical to how we deliver on our strategy, even more so as we work toward our climate goals and the clean energy transition. This is why we're investing in partnerships and initiatives to spur economic development, enable new ideas and foster the entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow.
Through the Emera ideaHUB at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and the Emera Innovation Exchange at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador, we’re helping to provide students and young entrepreneurs with opportunities to collaborate, as well as access to industry mentorship and support in developing new ideas and bringing them to market. At the Emera NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies at the University of New Brunswick, we’re helping to advance smart grid technology and its application in our electric utility systems.
Innovation is playing a central role in helping us increase renewables, reduce our use of coal in generation and enhance system reliability and resilience. In addition to major clean energy and transmission projects taking place across our organization, we’ve also launched a number of pilot projects to explore new technologies that can help us deliver cleaner, reliable energy for our customers now and in the future.
We've launched several battery storage projects across Emera, including in Nova Scotia, Florida and the Caribbean. Battery storage technology enables more renewable energy and provides reliable back-up energy in the event of an outage. We continue working to develop this technology on a utility-scale.
Microgrids are smaller, distributed generation networks that can operate independently or as part of the larger grid. Through several pilots and partnerships we’re learning about how microgrids can help us incorporate additional renewables and reduce the frequency and duration of outages.