Industry welcomes Trudeau’s ‘specific recognition’ of energy storage in Canada infrastructure plan

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
An energy storage project under construction for an industrial site in Ontario, Canada, earlier this year. Image: Sungrid.

The government of Canada unveiled CA$10 billion (US$7.53 billion) worth of “new major infrastructure initiatives” last week, with the inclusion of energy storage warmly welcomed by trade group Energy Storage Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new Growth Plan to be delivered through the Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) last Thursday. The three-year plan to invest in infrastructure is a key part of a drive to create jobs and economic growth in the wake of the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

With the hope of creating around 60,000 jobs throughout the country, the Growth Plan focuses on areas including agriculture and internet connectivity as well as helping to build a resilient and sustainable low-carbon economy.

A quarter of the pledged CA$10 billion will go towards clean power initiatives, “to support renewable generation and storage,” a government statement read, as well as transmitting clean electricity between Canada’s provinces, territories and regions, with northern and Indigenous communities among them.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

With a further CA$500 million to be allocated by the CIB to directly support project development and early construction works, the plan is part of the government’s overall CA$180 billion commitment to investing in new infrastructure in the country. CIB chair Michael Sabia said that “every dollar of investment” in the Growth Plan initiatives is “intended to attract additional dollars from private and institutional investors”.

Justin Wahid Rangooni, executive director of Energy Storage Canada, told Energy-Storage.news that the group, which began as a trade association for Ontario’s booming storage sector but has since encompassed national representation, “is encouraged to see that energy storage was specifically referenced in the Federal Government announcement”.

Rangooni said it was encouraging to see energy storage “recognised as a critical piece in the recovery, through the creation of clean energy jobs in a rapidly expanding industry while lowering energy costs of consumers”.

“We look forward to finding out more details on the programme specifics so we can help unlock the potential of energy storage in Canada,” Rangooni said.

Indeed, Energy Storage Canada recently commissioned a report on exactly that topic, highlighting that even before many of the environmental and societal benefits of energy storage are taken into account, deployment of 1GW of energy storage could save billpayers CA$4 billion by 2030.

So far, much of the action has focused on peak demand reduction for industrial heavy users of electricity in Ontario, although the first grid-scale battery project in Alberta came online during August.

Rangooni also drew attention to a keynote address given last week at Energy Storage Canada’s annual conference by the Federal Minister of Natural Resources Canada, Seamus O’Regan, which the trade group’s executive director described as a “quite inspiring and nice call to action”.

“Few areas offer greater potential for building that safer, greener, more competitive future than energy storage, by lowering wholesale costs, optimising investment in transmission and distribution and saving customers money by shifting their peak consumption,” Minister O’Reagan said in his speech.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau said that investing in infrastructure is a means of “strengthening our communities and ensuring good jobs for today and in the future”.

“We will continue to do what it takes to support Canadians through this crisis, safely get our economy back up and running, and get people back to work.”

Read Next

August 29, 2025
The Australian government has opened two CIS tenders in Western Australia, targeting 2.4GWh of energy storage and 1.6GW of renewables.
August 28, 2025
“Australia is one of the leading countries for grid-forming inverters,” said Natalie Thompson, senior analyst of energy storage and solar at Wood Mackenzie, when discussing the Australian energy storage market.
August 27, 2025
“Battery energy storage systems (BESS) typically change ownership between two and four times during their 40-year lifecycle,” John Sheehy, CEO of Pottinger, said on day two of the Battery Asset Management Summit Australia 2025 this morning.
August 26, 2025
After an initial rush to deploy that gave CAISO and ERCOT the lead in US BESS adoption, both markets are focused on capacity and availability, writes Amit Mathrani of Rabobank Americas.
August 26, 2025
BESS developer Pacific Green Technologies has secured a AU$77 million (US$49.9 million) debt facility for projects in Australia.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter