Sarah Williams
For the Beaver
On November 28, Town of Greater Napanee Council passed several resolutions showing support for three different battery energy storage systems (BESS) proposed for the region. Currently, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is accepting BESS proposals until early December.
In order to have a project be considered by the IESO, council-in any given jurisdiction-needs to provide this resolution of support.
The three BESS proposals in question are the Boralex Lennox BESS, EDF Renewables Bethany BESS, and Atura Power Napanee Generating Station BESS.
While council threw their support behind these proposals without much ado, throngs of residents have expressed concern for the potential environmental ramifications, least of which, those caused by the notorious BESS fires.
A U.S. database (https://storagewiki.epri.com/index.php/BESS_Failure_Event_Database) lists 63 examples of BESS fires beginning in 2011.
While some residents have stated this technology is understandably necessary in the fight against climate change, others have argued the technology used is still too new to be housed next to residential areas.
Presenting his findings regarding the threat of fire and subsequent response by the local fire department was chief Bill Hammond. In his report, Hammond weighed the pros and cons of BESS technology through the lens of fire risk.
Ultimately, he argues, BESS fires that have gone awry are usually the result of human error when it comes to response.
“In the early stages of this newer technology there were mistakes made or assumptions on how to handle these facilities when an incident arose. Many issues relate to the way the fire was attacked or not, this is why the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs and Energy Storage Canada created a Solar electricity and Battery Storage systems safety handbook for Fire departments,” wrote Hammond. “This document has been widely distributed to fire departments as the initial response guide to issues involving both solar power storage (which uses similar container storage units) and BESS issues. NFPA also has taken on the task of creating a standard to assist fire crews in handling many fires that departments respond to, not just structure fires.”
Councillor Dave Pinnell questioned Hammond about the response protocol should there be a BESS fire locally.
“We’ve been issued a response guide on how to actively respond to a BESS incident. It would depend on the size of the container, the manufacturer of the container…our response will be very well laid out in their emergency response plans. I will remind everyone these BESS are in the application stage. At present, we are comfortable with the application stage and that’s what the report states,” Hammond responded.”
Mayor Terry Richardson reminded council of the aid agreements in place with neighboring fire departments that would see help from Loyalist Township among others.
“We have the ability to draw upon a large number of resources quickly,” said Hammond. “Loyalist has the Bath Station which simultaneously responds through the automatic aid agreement. If we’re dispatched from Station One in Napanee and Station Three in Dorland, Bath Station is dispatched at the exact same time. We can draw resources from across the province if we require.”
Michael Nobes, general manager of growth and expansion/chief building official with the town was present to field questions from council pertaining to the proposals.
Before answering anyone, he reiterated the resolution of support would only aid in the procurement process.
“This does not supersede any federal or provincial regulations,” he added.
Richardson questioned Nobes as to next steps should the proponents be successful.
Nobes noted a site plan control application would be required which would encompass all aspects of the detailed design, including environmental protection, ground water impacts, spills action plan etc.
Before voting on whether council would support the Boralex BESS, Pinnell offered his two cents worth. Pinnell argued agricultural land, such as that of the proposed BESS site, should be reserved for agriculture or housing.
“When the green energy act first came out, there was an influx of solar farms. We had no say where they could be built and they took up a good chunk of agricultural land. I think if prime agricultural land is ever going to be used for something other than agriculture, it should be used for housing. I also believe these BESS should be housed at the place of generation,” Pinnell argued.
He also expressed concern that, should Napanee become a willing host of BESS, a proliferation of these facilities will follow.
A motion to support the Boralex BESS was passed in a 5-2 vote with Pinnell and Angela Hicks voting against.
EDF Renewables, having drawn considerable ire from the public due to its location near residential areas as well as waterways, was the second proposal to be supported by council.
“Staff are aware of a large number of individuals concerned about this particular project, given location and proximity to water bodies and residences,” Nobes conceded. “What we have control over is that the appointments for the applications must maintain adequate liability insurance that covers environmental damage.”
Nobes added that the Ministry of the Environment would be the enforcement agency to ensure environmental compliance.
Support for the EDF Renewables BESS was provided in a 5-2 vote with Hicks and Pinnell again voting against.
The last BESS to be discussed was that of Atura Power, which is currently in Stage Two of their procurement process for their proposal which will be on the site of the Napanee Power Generating Station.
The IESO had granted a previous 250 MW contract earlier in 2023.
Should this contract be successful, Nobes noted, there would be “a great level of detail” undertaken by Cataraqui Conservation Authority given the close proximity of this BESS to the intake protection zone for Napanee’s drinking water.
“We do have to be very careful about the water intake for drinking water,” stated Pinnell.
Support for this BESS was awarded unanimously by council.
–Keeping with Atura Power, council voted 6-1 in favour of supporting a proposal of a natural gas turbine expansion on its current Napanee Generating Station site.
Atura has proposed to install a natural gas fired turbine with an average contract capacity of 400MW on lands west of the existing plant at 7143 Hwy 33 on land currently owned by Ontario Power Generation. Like the BESS projects, council support is seen as a requirement towards securing project approval from the IESO.
“There is an existing natural gas-filled facility creating electricity and this would be an expansion to that use,” said Nobes. “It would be another turbine mechanism if you will, but the actual site is functioning today with this type of power generation.”
Hicks was the lone ‘no’ vote.
-In other council news, deputy fire chief James Feeney was busy fielding questions the Oct. 23 fire at the old arena on York Street. The scene of the fire, as per the report provided, was suspicious in nature. And, with the OPP requesting that the fire department treat the fire as a crime scene, there was considerable cost involved to extricate debris without disturbing any evidence.
All told, the financial implications to the town are $35,458.54.
“Is there any cost recovery we can do on this if it is found to be arson and the suspect is found guilty?” inquired Pinnell.
Feeney assured council Chief Hammond is investigating this and believes there are cost recovery measures to be explored.