Battery Storage Proposal Gets Off to A Rocky Start

Jeff Green | Nov 30, 2023

Alectra Energy Solutions is a municipally owned electricity company that was created in the Golden Horseshoe in 2017. It is overseen by a board made up of politicians from Barrie, Hamilton, Markham and Mississauga.

It has partnered with the Canadian division of a US owned energy storage company called Convergent Energy and Power to answer a request for proposal from Ontario’s Independent Energy Storage Operator (IESO) for an energy supply project to help shore up the Ontario hydro grid after 2028. Their proposal is for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that would be an environmentally friendly fit for the RFP as an alternative to a new gas plant, which is another option.

So where does South Frontenac come in?

The Alectra-Convergent JV (Joint Venture) has two proposed locations in the township, both located close to Road 38, one near Harrowsmith (Alton Road-Jamieson Road) and one near Hartington and Verona (Trousdale Road - Hinchinbrooke Road)

The company has met with township staff and submitted some documentation about their proposal, and made a presentation to Council this week (November 21).

But before that, they held mandatory public information sessions on November 14th.  Those meetings did not go as well as the company had hoped.

For one thing, more people came than could fit in the meeting room at the Sydenham Library, so people were craning their necks at the doorway.

Also, there were two meetings scheduled, each for ½ an hour, one for each project. But the questions started as soon as the presentations got underway, and the plan for two meetings did not pan out. The meeting ended up lasting a couple of hours.

Questions for the lead presenter, David Anders, a Director of Distributed Energy Solutions with the company, were varied.

“Why should we be expected to suffer because Toronto uses so much power and might run out, when we all have generators if we need power,” asked one audience member. Others wanted to know about fires at BESS installations around the world in recent years. Anders said that the state of the art battery system that the Alectra-Convergent JV is planning to use does not have the same fire risk as the technology used by Tesla in Australia, the site of a large fire in September that was left to burn out under supervision.

The presentation at Frontenac County Council on November 21st was less contentious. Anders delivered his presentation without interruption, pointing to some changes in the proposal after hearing from the public on the 14th. Two of those changes include a smaller footprint for the Trousdale-Hinchinbrooke Road proposal, and a change in the safety protocol of the battery arrays so they will not include what he called “Deluge Systems” and said that instead the plan would be to isolate the fire and let it burn out.

“There have been no emissions of toxic materials at hazardous levels in any of the fires that we have records about.”

He also pointed out that if a BESS is installed, a payment of $1,000 per MW per year will be made to the township. The two proposed installations are 400Mw and 300Mw, leading to a potential payment of up to $700,000 per year for 20 years.

He also said that the company can submit the bid for one or both of the projects, which is due on December 12, with or without a letter of support from Council. However, even if the company then wins the bid and gets the contract, they will need a letter of support within 20 months or the contract will be terminated.

“If we do not get that letter, the contract will be voided,” said Anders.

Council also heard from Brandi Teeple, who lives on Hinchinbrooke Road very close to the northern site.

She pointed out that there are risks that were not spoken of by the proponents. She talked about the potential burden on the local firefighters. She also said that because battery storage is new, there is little information about the environmental implications of the sites. She described the IESO process as a “mad dash to get these projects built.”

She also submitted a petition with the clerk with over 500 signatures, opposing the proposal, and said that other jurisdictions in Eastern Ontario have rejected similar proposals from other companies, including Prince Edward County and Stone Mills. Council will receive a report from staff about the proposal at their December 5th meeting, and will consider whether to pass a motion of support at that time.

(See Editorial)