Ontario government outlines next steps for pumped storage project
TC Energy Corporation has announced that it is pressing ahead with its Ontario Pumped Storage Project alongside prospective partner Saugeen Ojibway Nation.
The company says it is starting work with the Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to establish a potential long-term revenue framework for the project.
This decision comes after Ontario’s Minister of Energy issued a direction to the Independent Electricity System Operator that outlined next steps related to the project including a cost recovery agreement.
Subject to an agreement with the IESO, this direction from the minister will facilitate the continued development of the project, that if constructed, will support Ontario’s long-term plans to grow the economy and build a sustainable, reliable and clean electricity system.
“The Minister’s direction to advance this project is a strong signal that the work TC Energy and Saugeen Ojibway Nation are doing is important,” said Annesley Wallace, President, Power and Energy Solutions at TC Energy. “It recognizes the critical role that pumped hydro storage will have in enhancing the diversity of Ontario’s supply mix and achieving a net-zero electricity grid.”
TC Energy says it will start work with the ministry and the OEB to establish a potential long-term revenue framework for the project. It expects to deliver a report to the minister by July 31.
If constructed, the Ontario Pumped Storage Project would be an energy storage facility that would provide 1,000 megawatts of flexible, clean energy to Ontario’s electricity system using a process known as pumped hydro storage.
Using water and gravity, pumped storage stores excess electricity when demand is low and makes it available when it is high.
If developed, the facility would be co-located on the existing Canadian Army’s 4th Canadian Division Training Centre, north of Meaford. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs during construction.
The project remains subject to the approval of TC Energy’s board of directors and Saugeen Ojibway Nation.
Construction is planned to begin in the later part of the 2020s, with in-service in the early 2030s, subject to receipt of regulatory and corporate approvals.