Tag Archives: Evolugen

Ottawa Wind Concerns supports West Carleton residents

24 Monday Feb 2025

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Concerns for environment, water supply with proposal for 250-megawatt battery storage system

Source: Stop West Carleton BESS

February 23, 2025

Ottawa Wind Concerns released a statement yesterday expressing support for the residents of West Carleton who are concerned about the potential negative impacts on the environment from a proposed large battery energy storage system or BESS, currently planned for the Marchurst Road area near Dunrobin. The power developer is Evolugen, a division of Brookfield Renewables.

“We share resident concerns about the proposal for a large Battery Energy Storage System on farmland in West Carleton,” said Ottawa Wind Concerns Chair Jane Wilson, in a letter sent to community group Stop West Carleton BESS, one of several opposing the project.

“Like large-scale industrial wind power sites that were forced on rural Ontario communities, the BESS raises concerns about negative impacts on the environment such as the risk of fire, and noise pollution.  

“We echo the concerns of the local OFA in that even classes 4-6 of agricultural land have a role to play in food production and food security for the people of Ontario. 

“The process for the BESS is the same as for wind and solar power installations which features limited public engagement, and the need for communities to approve this significant industrial land use with minimal details provided. “

The West Carleton residents are concerned about the potential for fire, due to multiple battery storage system fires around the world, including several in the U.S. A fire at the three-year-old Moss Landing battery facility in California, which resulted in toxic smoke and the evacuation of residents. The fire has reignited several times. There have been calls for more stringent safety rules for such installations.

In West Carleton, residents are concerned that in the event of a fire, the site would be far from City of Ottawa fire services, and first responders would be volunteer fire fighters, as is the case for most Ottawa rural communities. The chemicals used to fight a lithium battery fire could contaminate the aquifer, which would affect neighbouring farm properties.

Noise from the 250+ containers housing the batteries is another environmental concern.

Residents say they are not opposed necessarily to the battery storage technology, but are asking whether an industrial location close to services like fire would not be more appropriate for this industrial land use. They also note proximity of the site to area wetlands, some of which have been proposed for protection. (See illustration, above.)

The BESS is to be located on farmland currently used for hay, which is part of the food production cycle, says the local chapter of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which also supports the West Carleton resident concerns.

In a story presented by CTV News Ottawa today, https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/proposed-battery-storage-site-in-ottawas-west-end-raises-safety-concerns-from-residents/ Stop West Carleton BESS representative and local farm owner Courtney Argue said, if there was a fire event and the groundwater was contaminated, “there is no remediation.”

Argue also said Evolugen surveyors were on her farm last month without permission.

Kanata North councillor Cathy Curry told CTV News that there was already a battery storage facility in her ward and that it was operating without problems; however, there are no grid-scale BESS installations in Ottawa. Evolugen proposed another BESS near the Trail Road landfill on land zoned industrial with did get CIty of Ottawa support. The West Carleton project however, has a contract from the Independent Electricity System Operator or IESO to sell power, but it does not have the municipal support resolution which is mandatory for the project to proceed. (See IESO, Section 11 at https://www.ieso.ca/Sector-Participants/Resource-Acquisition-and-Contracts/Long-Term-2-RFP )

The battery storage operators (many of whom also operate wind and solar generation projects and are paid for their power, whether it is needed or not) buy power in times of surplus, store it, then sell it back to the grid operator. In theory, they sell the power at one price, buy it back at a lower price, then sell it again at a higher price when power is needed.

Does battery storage work?

One U.K. analyst says battery storage units don’t do what the promoters say they will. In a video titled “Exposing the battery storage con,” released recently, Paul Burgess says that batteries will provide only minutes of power when needed, as they can only use 60 percent of the power stored. In times of “wind drought” which can last more than a week, he says, the battery power stored will have run out immediately. “It is one hair on a camel’s back relative to what’s required,” he says. Battery storage would not be adequate and will cost billions.

Stop West Carleton BESS currently has the support of the Carleton Landowners, and the Ontario federation of Agriculture, and is one of at least four community groups. A petition to the CIty of Ottawa is available and is approaching 1,000 signatures.

For more information email stopwestcarletonBESS@gmail.com

Former Ward 5 Councillor Eli El Chantiry signs the Stop West Carleton BESS petition at a community “pop up” signing opportunity

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/proposed-battery-storage-site-in-ottawas-west-end-raises-safety-concerns-from-residents/

What do we know about Battery Energy Storage? Not much

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Uncategorized, Wind power

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And we better learn, fast.

Overhead_View_of_Tehachapi_Energy_Storage_Project,_Tehachapi,_CA

Overhead view of 8-megawatt battery storage facility in Tehachapi, USA-Wikipedia image

March 1, 2023

Green energy’s newest fad is Battery Energy Storage Systems or BESS, which is being promoted as an add-on to existing renewable power generation facilities to counteract intermittency and unreliability.

Lobbyist the former Canadian Wind Energy Association, now the Canadian Renewable Energy Association or CanREA is actively pushing BESS, and has even gone so far as to add storage to its corporate banner as in, Wind- Solar- Storage.

CanREA is pushing for TEN TIMES the amount of wind and solar we already have in Canada (won’t that look pretty? And cost us all, too) which they say will work with storage.

However, even the influential lobbyist points to concerns. First, there is a need to develop technical requirements for connecting and operating battery storage facilities CanREA says in its document, Laying the Foundation:

“In many jurisdictions, the technical details may be included in the operating documents of the crown owned utility. However, there are other elements, such as the scope of safety and environmental reviews, that will need legislated descriptions or will need to be included in the regulatory documents of the relevant ministry or government department.” (Page 10)

And, CanREA says, regulating authorities may need to get ready for BESS and develop new competencies:

“In most jurisdictions, the mandate and/or rules of the regulating authority (for example the Alberta Utilities Commission) may need to be enhanced. Regulatory authorities will need sufficient expertise to fairly evaluate proposed energy-storage installations.”

Most people don’t know what they are

In response to inquiries from members and the public, and because BESS is being proposed as an add-on to existing wind power installations, Wind Concerns Ontario undertook a review of experiences with BESS around the world, and reports of citizen concerns, as well as the current regulatory environment.

As one Ontario mayor said, most people don’t even know what they are.

Wind Concerns Ontario prepared a report, with the following conclusions:

  • Standards needed for emergencies – As BESS technology is relatively new, standards are rapidly changing in response to emergency situations encountered. Even projects developed by companies with extensive battery experience have experienced serious emergency situations.
  • Not enough information – The requirements for submissions to the IESO and to municipalities when requesting support for the project include few, if any, details on the actual project. The process appears to assume that once a company is awarded an IESO contract based largely on price, it will then proceed to develop the real proposal which will be submitted into an undefined permitting process or processes. Based on information submitted, it is not clear how the IESO will be able to distinguish between proposals with higher prices because they meet high standards for development and those with lower prices because the proposal includes the minimal safety standards.
  • Renewable energy or not? – BESS systems are neither defined as a Renewable Energy project by Regulation 359/09, nor are they included in the list of excluded projects. The intention may be to omit further provincial review of these projects and to proceed directly to the municipal permitting process but this would be a recipe for substantial delay as the building officials in each host municipality (many of which are small rural municipalities) individually develop the expertise needed to assess and approve these projects.
  • Safety regulations? – While Ontario Hydro has defined setbacks from BESS installations to protect their infrastructure, there are no setbacks for BESS installations established in Regulation 359/09 to protect other buildings and activities. Similarly, there are no noise standards for these systems which could create a new enforcement challenge for Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks field staff.
  • Potential for support to be withdrawn – As the submissions to municipalities have included minimal information, there is potential for municipalities to rescind their support resolution once they learn the risks associated with these projects and the municipal resources that will be potentially required to deal with emergency situations.

Clearly, there are significant issues to be addressed.

Ottawa area BESS

Here in Ottawa, a BESS facility was proposed for the recent Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) Request for Proposals for new power generation. Located on Upper Dwyer Hill Road in the West Carleton-March ward of the city, the project is unheard of for most people. The company proposing the project held a public meeting in December but no one showed up. The IESO allows proponents to simply post a notice on their project website. If you don’t even know about the project, how do you know to check for announcements?

Here are the minutes for the “public” meeting:

MINUTES OF PUBLIC COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT City of Ottawa Public Meeting Location: Alexander Community Centre, 960 Silver St, Ottawa, ON K1Z 6H5 Time: 6-7 pm, January 12th, 2023

Long-Term Reliability Project Name: 548

Site Address: 650 Upper Dwyer Hill Road, Ottawa, ON K0A 1A0

Facility: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

Size: 4.99-megawatt/19.96-megawatt hour

 

Proponents Name: 1000234763 Ontario Inc.

Attendance: • 0 community members •

Proponent – 1000234763 Ontario Inc., representative: o John Kozak, COO • Proponent’s Contractor, SolarBank Corporation (previously, Abundant Solar Energy Inc.) o Tracy Zheng, CAO o Mila Simon, Project Coordinator 6ii

6:00 PM: meeting called to order. Proponent and SolarBank waited for 45 minutes for attendees. No community members showed.

6:45 PM: Meeting adjourned.

Another BESS proposal is in development in Cumberland, that would be ten times the capacity of the Upper Dwyer Hill Rd facility. In response an email inquiry, developer Evolugen (a division of huge power developer Brookfield) replied:

We are still in the process of assessing potential sites for a battery storage energy system in the Cumberland area to respond to two announced procurements (expedited and long-term RFP). The two public meetings were held to gauge at a high level the type of reaction that this type of project would receive in this area. We don’t record public meetings because they are drop-in format rather than a presentation with a Q and A. But we are always available for one-on-one meetings. The IESO released the final RFP document in early December, but had released a series of documents (including a draft RFP) in preceding months to provide project proponents with a general idea of what public outreach requirements were required.  

As we have more information – we will continue to update our project specific website: Rabbit Battery Energy Storage Project – Brookfield Renewable (evolugen.com)

Nick Best, Director, Public Affairs

Another inquiry, this time to the Cumberland Community Association, revealed the association knew nothing about the proposal. Or the public meetings that were held.

Time to ask questions

Doubtless, still more BESS proposals are coming with the IESO set to open up yet another RFP later this year, this time for almost twice as much new power generation.

We need to learn more to be able to ask questions about the impact of these installations on our communities, the environment, and our economy.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com