Calgary-based pipeliner TC Energy is planning to build Canada’s biggest energy storage project to date, a 1,000-megawatt pumped storage installation on the grounds of the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre in Meaford, Ontario, about 200 kilometres north of Toronto on Georgian Bay.
Once the project goes online in eight years, TC expects the deal with the federal Department of National Defence to save Ontario electricity users about C$250 million per year by reducing natural gas demand, Bloomberg reports, while cutting annual greenhouse gas emissions by 490,000 tonnes.
To get the facility off the ground, TC will have to go through regulatory approvals and assure the military that it won’t affect training operations on the base.
“TC Energy, which owns and operates pipelines and power plants across North America, is tapping into a growing push to develop more cleaner energy storage facilities as part of efforts by governments and industry to shift away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions through less polluting technologies,” Bloomberg writes. Perhaps TC’s highest-profile project is the Keystone XL pipeline recently cancelled by U.S. President Joe Biden.
The news agency says TC’s power and storage business accounted for 3.3% of its revenue last year, compared to 78% from gas pipelines and 18% from oil pipelines.
