Boralex aims to build battery energy storage system in Hagersville

Kent Burns isn't happy about the possibility of power lines being run along the road in front of his house on Concession 10 Walpole in Hagersville.

If poles are ultimately installed in front of his home, we are moving," he said. That's not why we moved out to the country."

Burns was one of the local residents who attended a public meeting hosted by Boralex on Dec. 15 in the Hagersville Community Centre. The company was sharing information about its proposed battery energy storage system that it wants to build in the Hagersville Business Park, on lands owned by Haldimand County.

Juan Anderson, director of greenfield origination with Boralex, said the facility would be used to store the province's energy at low demand times when we have excess (energy production) and deliver that during peak times when we have high amounts of demand."

The company is targeting a capacity of 300 megawatts for four hours.

We're looking at one charge, one discharge per day, approximately," Anderson said.

The facility would have a footprint of about four hectares, with an option to lease more land, though Anderson noted if they went much bigger, they would start to reach the limitation on the transmission line on the Ontario grid side.

Haldimand council ratified its decision to support the project at the Sept. 26 council meeting; the initial discussion and vote had taken place during a closed session at the Sept. 20 council in committee meeting.

The Sachem contacted Craig Manley, Haldimand's chief administrative officer, to ask why this had gone to closed session. Manley was unable to respond prior to deadline, but committed to answering questions about the matter in the new year.

The land is zoned industrial, and is located about three kilometres from the existing Hydro One transmission line, which is what Boralex wants to connect to.

This is one of the backbones of Ontario's power systems," Anderson said.

He noted there are multiple circuits that come out of Nanticoke, where Ontario Power Generation used to have a generating station - the decommissioned coal-fired power plant has since been demolished.

How we get there, the route we take and exactly where we tap in is to be determined."

It's that uncertainty that has Burns and some of his neighbours upset.

Besides esthetics, Burns' concerns also include health and safety issues and loss of property value.

Burns said some initial research he did suggested his property's value could drop by between 10 and 40 per cent, though he plans to consult a professional to get more concrete numbers. Even if he were to try and sell, though, Burns said he suspects finding a buyer might be tricky.

If I drove down this road, Concession 10, 15 years ago and these poles were there, my wife and I would have just kept driving ... and that's what's going to happen."

While the information boards at the meeting showed the lines going directly down Concession 10 Walpole, Anderson said that's not necessarily where they'll ultimately go.

Our preference is actually to work with the landowners and find a cross-country route," he said. We're in the very early stages; nothing's final."

Boralex is hoping to finalize its plan soon, though, and make a successful request for proposal submission to Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator in the first quarter of 2023. The company is aiming to have the facility built and operational by the end of May 2023.

Marnie Dawson, manager of greenfield origination for Boralex, said, It's a very tight timeline," adding that's what the provincial government had put in place when it put out its request for proposals.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: When a Concession 10 Walpole resident reached out to us with concerns about the proposed Hagersville battery energy storage system project, we wanted to know how those concerns were being addressed.