Bruce County council had some concerns about the battery storage system that is proposed for the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie.
The battery energy storage system referred to as Tara BESS, formerly Grey Owl Storage, was discussed at Thursday’s council meeting.
Brittany Morrison, who is the Communication, Engagement, and Stakeholder Relations Manager at Neoen, shared how the company that will build the site will take into account safety precautions and regulations, the natural environment, and community consultations that will be held for resident input.
Morrison also shared a site map for the proposed project, which outlined the placement along the Sauble River.
A battery energy storage system charges overnight, during hours with lower demand on the grid. it then discharges that stored power back to the grid during times of high demand.
Councillor Jay Kirkland had asked if the operations at the proposed facility would cause issues with noise, given the plan design included sound barriers.
“When we do our noise analysis, we study noise from the receptors or properties that are closest, and what the ambient noise levels are for them and then we’re required to comply to not increase the amount of noise. The noise generation from the facility is from the fans, so when the batteries are charging, there are fans built into the container system that cool the batteries, and those fans can emit noise,” Morrison replied. “And while I wouldn’t say that it’s a particularly noisy facility, the ambient noise levels in the area are pretty low, and so we are proposing acoustic walls to ensure that we comply with the ambient levels at each of those receptors.”
She explained that there is also some noise that can be emitted from transformers, and that the cooling fans don’t have to run all of the time.
In her presentation, Morrison said that the design of the proposed site had an emphasis on safety.
“There are two main hazards that when we are constructing a BESS that we design to mitigate,” she said. “One is thermal runaway, and the other is a spill event.”
Thermal runaway is a chemical reaction where damaged battery cells release energy in the form of abnormal heat, which can lead to smoke, fire, or combustion, as well as equipment degradation.
A spill event happens when refrigerant, coolant, or oil spills as a result of equipment malfunctions or blunt force to BESS components.
Councillor Chris Peabody shared his concerns about building an industrial operation near an environmentally protected site, particularly with restrictions that residents in the county have because of protection regulations.
“This isn’t EP land where a farmer has a slew on his property and it fills up with water in the spring. This is EP [environmentally protected] land that is a flood plain of the Sauble River, which leads, of course, to Lake Huron, so I’m quite concerned with the volume of EP land on this,” he said. “The residents of Bruce County have a long history with being restricted from building on EP land. We have farmers who have been taken to court for cutting trees in the EP land. I have residents in Walkerton who aren’t able to build decks downtown on their houses because of the EP land, and yet here we have a very large project being proposed on EP land.”
He continued, saying that he was curious to know why the Independent Electricity System Operator chose the Tara site in particular. “I just really question why IESO picked a site with so much flood plain, and it would be very difficult for me when this comes for an OP amendment, given the history of all our other residents being restricted from EP lands to approve such a large site on EP land.”
Peabody also asked about the amount of money that would be given to Arran-Elderslie’s Fire Department and Bruce County EMS for specialized training.
Morrison explained that there was no set dollar amount to be given by Neoen for that training, as it was on a project-by-project basis.
The battery energy storage site would take up 40 acres of land.
Neoen has issued a notice of commencement for an environmental assessment as well as an open house notice to get resident feedback.
Tara BESS is a 400-megawatt (MW) 1600-megawatt hour (MWh) storage system proposed for development on 39 Concession Road 4.
The company also has a feedback form available at tarabattery.ca
