Developer Boralex and its partner Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) have closed the CA$538 (US$372.82) million financing of a 300MW/1,200MWh BESS park.
The Hagersville Battery Energy Storage park, located in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada, will be the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) project to date in Canada. The project is expected operational in Q4 of 2025.
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Financing for the project was obtained from a banking syndicate composed of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Canada (SMBC), German KFW Ipex-Bank GMBH (KfW), the Korean Development Bank, French Crédit Industriel et Commercial, New York Branch et DZ Bank, all acting as joint lead arrangers.
SMBC serves as administrative agent, collateral agent, and green loan hedging coordinator, while KfW is designated as the project’s technical bank. The financing is split into three main amounts.
First, CA$366 (US$256.97) million as a construction loan, to be converted into an amortising term loan over 20 years following commercial operation.
Next, CA$141 (US$99) million as a bridge loan to allow the financing of investment tax credits (ITC), reducing the amount of equity capital allocated to the project in the short term and optimising Boralex’s overall capital structure. This loan will be repaid when the ITCs are received. Finally, the deal also includes a CA$31 (US$21.77) million letter of credit facility.
The Hagersville project was the largest to win a contract with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) for Ontario in the Expedited-Long-Term 1 (E-LT1) solicitation hosted in 2023 by the provincial government as it seeks to procure resources to mitigate shortfalls in generation as electricity demand in the region grows. The government has since held an LT1 request for proposals (RFP) this year, awarding 1.75GW of contracts to BESS projects and a further LT2 solicitation is imminent.
SNGRDC was also involved in what was previously Canada’s biggest BESS project, the 250MW/1,000MWh Oneida BESS(Premium access article). The Oneida project will be built on land belonging to SNGRDC.
In October of 2023, Boralex along with EDF and Atura Power submitted plans for large-scale BESS projects in the Town of Greater Napanee, Ontario(Premium access article), potentially adding up to a total capacity of 3.6GWh.
Prior to these plan submissions, Hydro-Québec subsidiary EVLO Energy Storage was selected to provide 4-hour duration battery storage solutions to three projects in Ontario. Included in the overall group of Ontario projects was the Hagersville contract awarded to Boralex.
EVLO recently announced the successful delivery of the company’s first California, US project, a 12.8MW/64MWh BESS.
This article has been updated from its original version to reflect inaccurate information stating that EVLO was awarded the Hagersville contract.
