To the editor:
The new Prime Minister has promised the biggest transformation of the Canadian economy in a generation. Mark Carney says the federal government will “build big, bold and build now”.
He doesn’t offer many particulars except for a doubling of housing construction and a broad proposal to get Canadian oil and natural gas to tidewater ports for export.
In Thunder Bay, as a city we too should be preparing to take advantage of coming federal incentives to build big and bold.
One option is to leverage our ownership of Synergy North, the company that that delivers electricity to our city’s homes and businesses. I propose Synergy North invest in the energy storage business.
A recent article in Wired magazine explores the exponential growth of large, linked lithium-ion battery farms that are dramatically changing the future of energy across North America. It’s called ‘grid-scale battery storage’.
The storage of energy generated by intermittent generators such as wind and solar is transforming those industries. In this region, the ability to store electricity generated by hydro dams could provide significant advantages to wire companies such as Synergy North.
Synergy North could buy power off-peak, when it’s cheapest, store it in these battery complexes and then shuttle that energy back into the local and regional grid during periods of high demand. This could reduce the overall cost of providing electricity to local homes and industry while improving Synergy North’s profits.
I believe there’s also a case to be made for Synergy North to get into the grid-scale battery storage business for the redundancy batteries offer. We know that it’s only a matter of time before climate change will result in damaging ice storms that could take down part or all of the regional power grid.
By having back-up battery power dispersed throughout the city, the effects of a grid-level outage could be mitigated….making sure that at least homes and critical infrastructure such as our hospitals and water and sewer treatment plants would have electricity while repairs were underway.
We could transform Synergy North from a passive wires operator into an active energy service providing right across Ontario and beyond.
Having the capacity to store energy produced intermittently would also increase the opportunity for Thunder Bay to become a hub for additional solar and wind projects.
But it doesn’t have to end with buying and installing large-scale batteries built elsewhere.
At least four mining companies with lithium properties in Northwestern Ontario are looking to build lithium processing plants along our waterfront.
In preparation for the possibility of these processing plants, Synergy North should study the idea of creating a subsidiary to actually get into the battery-manufacturing and installation business.
This new business could begin by providing remote First Nations with back-up power to smooth out their energy costs and improve system reliability in those communities. If Mr. Carney is to be believed, it would be reasonable to expect federal incentives would be available to bring energy storage to remote communities, especially those close to the Ring of Fire.
By starting to study the possibilities now, Synergy North could move beyond just being a passive supplier of energy to Thunder Bay. Synergy North could become a catalyst for new business opportunities in the city and region and new revenues for the City of Thunder Bay.
Let’s take the prime minister at his word: build big, build bold and build it now.
Shane Judge,
Thunder Bay
