Ontario, Canada’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has secured 640MW of new capacity through three projects selected under the capacity stream of the Second Long-Term Request for Proposals (LT2).
LT2 follows the IESO’s Long-Term 1 (LT1) competitive tender, which previously resulted in the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity procurement in the Canada’s history, awarding over 850MW of BESS capacity contracts across two tranches during May and June 2023.
LT2 was announced in August 2024, aiming to procure 3TWh of energy generation, alongside 600MW of new capacity resources.
According to Ontario’s Ministry of Energy and Mines on 12 June, the successful projects in the latest stream received strong municipal support and include First Nations partners with at least 50% equity ownership, “helping ensure direct economic benefits to local communities.”
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The Ministry also stated that through the three projects, Ontario has procured capacity at a weighted average price that is substantially lower than any of the capacity resources procured in IESO’s other competitive procurements.
The newly procured BESS capacity comes at significantly reduced costs, 36% lower than the government’s earlier Expedited-LT1 capacity procurement and 16% lower than the LT1 procurement.
Additionally, all projects have secured 20-year contracts and are expected to begin commercial operations by 1 May 2030.
Thus far, the LT2 procurement has secured over 1,750MW of new electricity supply through 16 projects across Ontario.
According to the IESO, the first window of the LT2 procurement is complete. It expects to run multiple requests for proposals submission windows under the LT2 umbrella to procure resources to meet system needs over the next few years.
In May, the IESO launched its Long Lead-Time request for proposal (LLT RFP), intending to procure up to 800MW of long-duration energy storage (LDES). LDES developer-operator Hydrostor announced its intent to enter a compressed air storage project into the LLT RFP shortly after.
In other news from Canada, solar and wind developer Scout Clean Energy announced the start of construction for its 150MW Trail Road BESS in Ottawa.
Trail Road is a joint venture (JV) between Scout and the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation.
The company also opened its new office in Ottawa, a renovated house at the Trail Road BESS site.
In October 2024, Scout announced that CleanPowerSF, a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), would buy energy from Gonzaga Ridge, a hybrid project with 147.5MW of wind power generation and a 50MW/200MWh BESS.
