Battery Energy Storage Systems in South Frontenac

Jeff Green | Nov 08, 2023

Just over a week ago, a number of property owners licing east of Road 38 in the Hartington and Harrowsmith areas received registered letters from Alectra Convergence, an alternative energy company whose Ontario operations are run out of Vaughan. Alectra is developing large battery storage systems (capable of storing between 400 and 1200 megawatts of electricity) in various locations in Eastern Ontario.

The projects are being developed in order for Alectra to submit proposals to answer a “Long-Term RFP [request for proposal] from Ontario's Independent Energy System Operator (IESO) for 2,500 Megawatts (MW) of storage to be connected to the energy grid in the province.

One of the disadvantages of alternative energy sources such as wind and power, is the fact that the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow for 24 hours a day. Large Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) would alleviate some of that problem.

Alectra lists a number of projects in Peterborough County on their site, all with public meetings scheduled later this month, including projects in Norwood and Gore Landing. Projects in Peterborough and Marmora are also on their list but they are marked as Canceled.

The local projects in South Frontenac include one at 3560 Trousdale Road on what appears to be a 21 acre site near where Trousdale meets Hinchinbrooke Road in the Hartington area. It is slated to store at least 400MW of power and up to 1200MW. The proposed location of the BESS is in fact closer to Hinchinbrooke than Trousdale (see map).

The second site is between Alton and Jameson Roads near in the Harrowsmith area (see map) on what appear to be 27 acres. The Harrowsmith project is slated to store at least 400MW of power as well, with a potential of 1600MW.

Both the registered letters to residents and the posting on the Alectra website about the projects refer to a meeting date of November 14 for public meetings at the Sydenham Library in the community room, one between 5pm and 5:30pm,and one between 5:30pm and 6pm.

An advertisement about the meetings was booked with the Frontenac News for he November 2nd edition to promote the meetings, but was cancelled on October 30, the ad agency saying, in an email, “our event will not take place”

Alectra has also asked to appear before South Frontenac Council, and time has been allocated to them to appear as a delegation on November 21, but township officials said that nothing had been confirmed as of November 7.

BESS systems have been installed around the world over the last ten years, and some, particularly a number in South Korea, have led to fires and spills affecting the environment in the vicinity of the battery.

The systems look like a series of storage containers linked with high capacity electrical wire. The most common technology in them makes use of Lithium-Ion, the same technology that is commonly used in rechargeable batteries.

The GreenSolver website lists 5 Safety Standards for BESS's. The first is to invest in the right Battery Management System to ensure that the battery array is not stretched beyond its safe operating capacity, avoiding possible risks of overheating and a potential fire. The second is to prevent the possibility of a “thermal runaway” which is what causes systems to overheat. The third is to make sure the system has “emergency stops” both automatic and manual, to immediately shut down when any anomaly is detected. The fourth is cyber-security to make sure the software running these systems is not vulnerable to being hacked, and the 5th is a decommissioning plan when the BESS reach the end of their working life.

Greensolver points out that BESS systems “are in their infancy” and safety protocols are still being developed for them.

Ontario Hydro has developed a detailed protocol for BESS installations.

Brad Mustard, a Hartington resident who lives near the proposed BESS on Trousdale Road, said that he is concerned about environmental impacts as well as the potential for a fire, based on research he has done since receiving a registered letter from Alectra.

“ Both fires/explosions and industry leakage is common. There were 23 battery storage facility fires in two years in one case alone. These produce horrible hydrogen fluoride clouds of smoke which take weeks and hundreds of firefighters to put out. The human impact concern is another conversation however with common or expected industrial accidents with these types of facilities the location is especially concerning with lakes and waters ways, and drinking wells,” he said.

The News was unable to contact a representative from Alectra by our publishing deadline this week, so the status of the meetings on November 14 is unclear at this point.

We will post any new information about the proposals to Frontenacnews.ca and the Frontenac News X-feed as we receive it.