N.S. in the market for more grid-scale batteries for energy storage
CBC
Nova Scotia's Independent Energy System Operator (IESO) says it wants to connect more batteries to the grid to help manage the peaks and valleys of energy demand and power generation — especially as more wind and other renewable energy sources come online.
“Batteries are an important part of the future resource mix in Nova Scotia,” Chris Milligan, IESO’s vice-president of planning and procurement, said in an interview.
“Our plan for that is to do a competitive procurement for energy storage resources and we plan to start that process near the end of 2026,” he said.
Milligan said the details of a call for bids will be refined in the coming months as IESO works on a new integrated resource plan. Nova Scotia Power used to be in charge of developing those plans, but the responsibility has shifted to the newly created IESO.
Milligan said Nova Scotia Power’s last integrated resource plan points to the need for 150 megawatts of battery storage, on top of the 150 megawatts that are already online or under construction.
Nova Scotia Power recently completed two grid-scale battery storage facilities and has a third under construction. Each has a 50 megawatt/four-hour capacity.
Those projects are owned by Nova Scotia Power and were paid for through customer rates and some government funding. Milligan said the next facilities will likely be owned and operated by the developers, with IESO contracting their use.
Milligan said the two that are already online helped the province through the recent cold snap, which set a new record for peak electricity demand and pushed the grid close to overload.
“[Batteries] shift energy from periods with low demand or higher output of renewables like wind into periods where demand is higher or maybe wind is not blowing as strongly,” Milligan said.
“They can also respond really quickly when there's a need on the power system like a high-demand day.”
One developer has been waiting for this procurement for years.
“We're effectively at a shovel-ready stage now,” said Jason Rioux, chief development officer at NRStor, in an interview.
“We’ve spent millions of dollars on our design work, our permitting, our environmental studies, geotech work, all the good stuff to prepare ourselves to ... have a great project to launch quickly,” Rioux said.
NRStor, a Toronto-based energy storage company, wants to build a battery facility with up to 150 megawatts of capacity in Trenton, N.S., right next to the existing coal plant that’s due to retire by the end of the decade.
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