A joint venture between federal and provincial governments will see the country’s largest battery storage project built in Ohsweken, Ont.
The initiative will add a 250-megawatt (MW) storage project to improve electricity access for the province via a clean electrical grid that includes battery storage and small modular reactors.
Ottawa is expected to kick in another $50 million to enhance an existing partnership with the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, Northland Power, NRStor and Aecon Group.
The project, in Six Nations, is boasting to make electricity more affordable for Ontario families and eventually double the province’s clean energy storage resources, to 475 MW via a 20-year contract with Oneida.
The facility is expected to store electricity during off-peak hours when power demand is low, and return the power to the system at times of higher electricity demand.
Six Nations says it will provide 97 per cent of the construction workforce to build it.
Premier Doug Ford said the province’s latest clean energy initiatives, which include extending the Pickering nuclear facility and Canada’s first small modular reactor at Darlington’s nuclear site, will reduce harmful emissions by 2.1 million tons through to the end of 2026.
“It’s equivalent to taking 643,000 cars off the road,” Ford said.
The project is also being supported by the Canada Infrastructure Bank which has earmarked some $170 million to the initiative.