This article was published by The Energy Mix on July 11, 2024.
By Christopher Bonasia
Alberta regulators are warming up to the idea of industrial energy storage technology as its opportunities become harder to deny.
In a place where the energy system is a sparring ground between the dominant fossil fuel industry and the evolving renewables sector, attitudes toward energy storage are shifting rapidly, writes reporter Robson Fletcher for CBC News.
Just eight months ago, Premier Danielle Smith said industrial-scale batteries were too expensive and dismissed the notion that storage coupled with renewable energy could meet Alberta’s power demands as “fantasy thinking.”
More recently, however, provincial utilities minister Nathan Neudorf said energy storage serves “a tremendous purpose” for the province’s power system. He added that the energy storage sector is “one that is wanting to grow” and emphasized that Alberta’s regulators must facilitate this growth by redesigning the province’s energy market and updating legislation to recognize storage as a key component.
He has also acknowledged that existing storage projects played a critical role in helping the grid avoid “a catastrophic failure” during a cold spell in January, the Globe and Mail reports.
Neudorf has given the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) until fall to propose new market rules to improve the grid’s stability and affordability. The changes, which are expected to take effect in 2027, will likely add both long- and short-term energy storage options in Alberta’s future grid mix, said Nicole LeBlanc, the AESO’s vice-president of markets.
But getting projects off the ground in Alberta’s unique deregulated energy market will require a fine balance, because energy company profits are driven by revenue from market volatility “or when the price of power spikes,” writes the Globe. The market allows for easy partnering between energy storage and renewable energy developers, but investors may think there is still too much uncertainty about how the new technology will turn a profit.
Nevertheless, officials are hopeful about energy storage, making an “about-face” in less than a year’s time, writes the CBC’s Fletcher. “Such is the nature of the energy-storage industry: Things happen quickly.”
“I think the lesson here is it’s a relatively new technology, and we need to tell our story,” said Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. “We have been working hard to try to educate the government on the value it brings.”
Alberta’s grid is also being fortified in other ways. Last week, the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) announced a C$283.5-million loan to electricity transmission companies in the province to develop a 130-kilometre high-voltage power line. The AESO said the line will supply more than 750 megawatts of electricity to the grid and “is required to relieve power congestion and distribution capabilities in the area.”
It will also help reduce emissions linked to electricity generation by helping bring new clean energy sources online, the CIB said.
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