Ontario and Alberta account for the bulk of Canada’s installed, planned and proposed large-scale energy storage today. The rest of the country can lean on the experiences and lessons learned, Andy Colthorpe hears from developers and expert voices.

News in brief from around the world in energy storage.

Decision-makers across Canada now recognise the value that energy storage can bring to the grid, with Ontario’s grid operator establishing its first-ever set of market rules for energy storage’s participation.

Between CA$1.5 billion (US$1.12 billion) and $4 billion in electricity system cost savings could be achieved by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) by installing 1,000MW of energy storage by 2030, according to a new study commissioned by Energy Storage Canada.

Reducing peak demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) electric utility customers in Ontario remains a big opportunity for using battery energy storage to reduce costs and decarbonise, three partner companies working on a 2MWh project have said.

An Ontario college will use a large-scale lithium-ion battery system from Wartsila to “minimise” its Global Adjustment Charge (GAC), the Canadian province’s means of paying for grid infrastructure as well as green energy policies that can constitute as much as 60% of monthly electricity bills.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is set to launch a demonstration of how solar panels, energy storage and customer-sited demand side response (DSR) can be used to drive down costs of the IESO’s network.

Fortune 100 technology company Honeywell will supply a multiple megawatt-hour battery energy storage system at a commercial site in Ontario, Canada.

Ontario’s policy of rewarding large users of energy that reduce their demand for grid energy at peak times has resulted in Shell New Energies announcing 21MWh of projects with Convergent Energy + Power.