Ontario will soon be home to Canada’s largest battery energy storage project, and one in all the most important on the earth, and it’s going to feature Tesla’s Megapack system. NRStor Inc. announced today that they’ve entered into an agreement to construct the 250MW/1,000MWh Oneida Energy Storage Project in southwestern Ontario.
The project has been under development between NRStor and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation since 2018, with Northland Power recently joining as an equity and operating partner.
With today’s signing of the Energy Storage Facility Agreement (ESFA) the project will now begin the development phase. It’s scheduled to be accomplished in 2025 where the Tesla Megapacks are expected to supply a gigawatt-hour of capability to the Ontario grid.
The project is partially funded by Natural Resources Canada, which provided $50 million from the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways program attributable to it reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling increased renewable energy capability to supply essential grid services to Ontario residents.
“It is a significant day for the Oneida Energy Storage Project, and we’re pleased with the instance it sets as a sustainable energy project with strong Indigenous partnership from Six Nations and collaboration between industry and government. We thank our many stakeholders, including the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada, whose support and investment on this Project have played a key role in bringing it to this stage,” said Annette Verschuren, Chair and CEO of NRStor in a press release. (h/t: @SawyerMerritt)
Not only will the project reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Oneida Energy Storage Project may even have advantages to ratepayers by reducing the necessity to use costly gas-fired power plants during times of peak demand. It’s estimated the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.1 million tonnes, or the equivalent of taking 40,000 cars off the road yearly.