A group is proposing two new power projects in the north end of Fort Frances that it says will generate clean electricity and help support the municipality for decades.
Council of the town of Fort Frances heard a presentation at their Monday, November 25, 2024, meeting from FirstLight Energy, a power producer, developer and energy storage company that operates in the U.S. and Canada. The presentation brought before council was in regards to a potential battery energy storage project, or BESP, as well as a solar panel array, both located north of town but within municipal boundaries. The company said the projects would allow them to help to address the Ontario Ministry of Energy’s call for an additional 5,000 MW of power capacity in the province’s electrical grid by 2026 in order to make up for projected shortfalls. FirstLight Senior Project Manager Development Alex Moore said the proposed project complies with the Ontario independent energy system operator’s aim to split procurement for the projected shortfall into two streams, energy and capacity.
“This procurement has intended to fill projected shortfalls over the coming 20 years in energy due to increasing economic growth, industrial demand, population growth, and the phase out of old existing generating assets. So the energy stream looks to increase the total energy generated in Ontario through low carbon renewable sources, while the capacity stream will increase Ontario’s electricity system resilience and energy security by providing immediate on demand power, handling peak demand and shifting a lot of the renewable energy generation to times when it’s needed the most. The two projects that we’re going to be discussing mainly today, fall into both of those streams.”
Moore said the BESP would be located in the northwest of Fort Frances, with two possible locations being identified near the landfill site on either side of the road leading off of McIrvine. Both locations are near the existing hydro lines and would allow for the proposed battery storage facility to provide 40 megawatts of power for a duration of eight hours . The facility itself would be a number of shipping containers housing a series of lithium ion phosphate batteries, which Moore said are safer than other forms of lithium ion technologies, which have been known to experience fires and runaway situations that can lead to significant damage. To establish the BESP, Moore said their company would look for a suitable partner to act as a supplier for the batteries, and ensure that whoever is selected has a “robust and established” safety record for such a project.
The solar farm project, on the other hand, will potentially be located to the north of Fort Frances removed from the residential areas and adjacent to the hydro lines. Moore said the solar project will have a maximum capacity of up to 100 megawatts, which based on preliminary estimates, he said would be enough to provide power to 12,000 homes in Ontario.
In terms of benefits to the town, not only would these two projects represent up to $300 million in capital investment, providing labour opportunities during construction and some full time jobs maintaining and operating them in the future, but FirstLight would also establish a Community Benefit Fund that would support initiatives like community projects, local food initiatives, recreational programs and events, and improvements to pedestrian activity, accessibility and urban green spaces. According to FirstLight’s presentation, the fund “is dependent on the overall project financials but typically is in the range of $1,000 – $1,500/MW/year.” The project would also provide the town with a long term income in the form of a 30+ year rent on the chosen pieces of property that FirstLight said would be between $250/acre/year to $350/acre/year, as well as an increase in property tax base through increased development value.
While the project is still in the preliminary stages at this point, Moore said the next steps would be to hold a number of community engagement sessions with members of the public, First Nations, area trail users and other stakeholders to identify potential concerns and jointly develop solutions, as well as to receive a Municipal Support Resolution (MSR) from the Town, which Moore said is a key factor in helping them get approval from the government.
“Municipal Support Resolutions are key aspects of projects that have now been mandated as part of this procurement,” Moore said.
“The MSR is similar to a letter of intent expressing support for the project, but hasn’t removed any obligation requirements that projects might have in terms of permit regulations. We have ongoing approvals at a local, municipal or provincial, federal level. This ensures proponents engage early and often with municipalities and address any concerns of the council. The recent dates mandated by the ISO for compliant MSRs, which must fall within, be no earlier than a certain date and no later, at the procurement and draft stages, we’re not too sure yet on what those dates will be, but they’ll be released in the coming weeks.”
Moore said the organization hopes to receive an MSR from the town of Fort Frances in early 2025, which would allow them to submit their bid later that year. In the event the bid is awarded, construction would be slated to start as early as 2027 following the procurement of neccessary permits and construction contracts.
In response to questioning from council regarding possible noise pollution from a battery facility, Moore explained that these buildings have an HVAC component to them to allow the batteries to stay cool ,but are nowhere near as loud or power intensive as a similar size cryptocurrency or data processing centre, similar to a project which council had previously been presented. Moore said their minimum setback around the facility would be 200 to 300 meters from a residential or industrial property, so the noise levels would drop dramatically before reaching anyone who would otherwise be disturbed by them.
Fort Frances mayor Andrew Hallikas posed of Moore what the emergency response would need to be in the event a fire at the battery storage facility owing to the specialized batteries intended to be in use. Moore repeated the safety improvements of lithium ion phosphate batteries over other lithium ion technologies, but also noted that the organization would develop a specific emergency safety response plan for the projects and technologies in use and provide dedicated training for first responders so they would be prepared in the event of an incident.
