South Frontenac Rejects Battery Storage Proposal

Jeff Green | Dec 06, 2023

If Alectra-Convergent Power is going to submit an application for a battery storage facility in South Frontenac to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) later this month, it will be without a motion of support from South Frontenac Council.

When the matter came before Council on Tuesday Night, (December5) members of council weighed in on the matter, one by one.

Councillor Pegrum went first, pointed out that township staff have laid out a process (see below) whereby environmental, fire safety, and infrastructure issues would be addressed by the township before the facility could be built, should it receive a green light from the IESO. He also said the global incidence of fire at battery facilities is low, less ¼ of one percent.

Councillor Morey followed, expressing his concerns about how rushed the proposal had been, and how there are risks to the township that he was unwilling to support.

Back and forth the comments went, with every member of council weighing, indicating a tight vote would follow, with a slight majority in the negative.

Councillor Godfrey said she “struggles with the proposal. I wondering who is benefitting from it and how our residents would benefit.”

Mayor Vandewal spoke last. He said “I know the way this is going to go, but this resolution would have given us the time find the answers that we need and I am assured by the CAO that if our questions are not answered we could say no. It is the same as any other development. It’s like everything else. Everybody wants cellphones, but nobody wants a tower near them.

A roll call vote on the motion to support the proposal was called Councillors Ruttan, Morey, Roberts and Leonard voted no, and Councillors Godfrey, Pegrum, Trueman and Deputy Mayor Sleeth voted in favour.

“It is a 4-4 tie,” said Mayor Vandewal, “so it comes down to my vote. I said all along that I would only vote in favour of this if it was unanimous among council, so my vote is no.

The motion is defeated.”

Council then approved a second motion, not to support the project, this time in an 8-1 vote, with Scott Truman voting no.

Background

While South Frontenac Township staff prepared a report that covered all of the nuts and bolts issues around the process that the Alectra-Convergent Battery Storage proposal would have to follow in the township, and also dealt with some of the risks and mitigation measures, staff did not make a recommendation for or against the project.

Under the ‘recommendation’ heading in the 9 page report, there was only one word ‘open’.

With that single word, township staff made it clear that the yay or nay over municipal support for the two proposals was a fundamentally political decision, to be made by Council alone.

But even though it pointed to a number of issues that need to be overcome in order for construction of the facility to be formally approved by the township, the staff report indicated that, in principle, Battery Energy Storage Projects (BESS) are an appropriate use of land in South Frontenac.

“BESS facilities are a required component of the overall electrical delivery system and need to be located adjacent to existing power lines at strategic locations. The subject sites meet these locational requirements and are considered appropriate to host the proposed use. Further, BESS facilities require a large land area with direct highway access, which are typically found outside of urban settlement areas,” the report concluded.

The report said that because the amount of material that will be required for the projects must be brought in over some roads that are built for light traffic, there may be measures that are required.

“Given that many of these candidate sites are located on low volume local roads, the township will want assurances that roads will be monitored and appropriately mitigated against damages from abnormally high levels of construction traffic. Entrance Permits may apply if new points of access are needed.”

It said that a building permit would also be required.

Fire safety is a major concern

Quoting from the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office, the report said that no extra certification or training is required for local firefighters, but added the following: “Effective suppression and control techniques for fires that result from electric vehicles and lithium-ion battery energy storage systems are an evolving science and the OFM continues to work with its partners to develop programs to assist the fire service in their responses to Li-ion related fires.”

The South Frontenac Fire Department said that if the projects are approved, they will require an emergency response plan from the company tailored to the specific “battery type being stored”, and said that in developing site plan control for the installations, they would be looking at issues such as “explosion venting”, “suppression systems that would or could be incorporated into the building construction”, “battery management systems preferably using thermal imaging to monitor battery conditions for the buildup of heat”, and “fire separations”.

The Planning Department pointed out that no Official Plan or Zoning Bylaw Amendments would be required for the project, mainly because, in both cases, the land is designated as rural, and is not prime agricultural land.

Site Plan Controls would definitely be required for the Trousdale Road project in Hartington because of its proximity to a water body, and the department said “it is staff opinion” that site plan control should also be applied for the Alton Road project.

Among the documentation that was presented to Council on the Alectra proposals, was a document that was provided by Convergent which was about a fire that took place at a BESS project they had installed in upstate New York in late June. The document provided information about air quality studies that were done in a school that was located 900 feet (275 metres) from the location of the fire while the fire was still burning. At the time, there were “low level smoke odors” present. The study looked at the “full scope of emissions from lithium-ion cell batteries” and concluded that while “low levels of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide” were present outside of the school, the concentration was not at toxic levels.

Alectra-Convergent is only one of the companies that have been making the rounds of rural halls, talking to often angry people, who live near their proposed projects, and appearing before township councils, seeking letters of support.

Some communities have issued those letters, and some have not. Alectra-Convergent was originally planning 8 projects, but has trimmed that to 5. Two of those projects, one in the Township of Centre-Wellington in Wellington County, and one in Brockton Township in Huron County, have both received township support, The remaining project, the only other one in Eastern Ontario, is proposed for Norwood, and the News has been unable to determine whether Norwood-Asphodel Township has voted in favour or not.