Rural councillors reject rezoning land for controversial battery energy storage system

Ottawa’s Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee has rejected rezoning a property near Dunrobin as a site for a massive battery to store electricity.

Three of the five rural councillors on the committee voted against rezoning land on Marchurst Road from rural countryside to rural general industrial to allow for construction of the controversial battery energy storage system, or BESS.

A BESS is a giant collective battery — in this case, a lithium-ion battery — used to store electricity and distribute it as needed. Under the proposal from Brookfield Renewables, the 15-acre site on Marchurst Road would be home to a substation, 256 battery containers with noise walls and a stormwater management system to capture runoff.

Residents have concerns, including noise, potential fires and contaminated well water. They also say details are sparse about decommissioning the $650-million facility once it has outlived its 25-year life expectancy.

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the authority responsible for managing the flow of electricity across Ontario, has contracted 26 batteries across Ontario because they are the “safest and most cost-effective tool to meet growing electricity needs and manage daily fluctuation and supply and demand in our grid,” Geoff Wright, senior vice-president of strategic partnerships at Brookfield, told the committee.