Canada’s power grid could get a helpful boost from an international partnership to develop microgrid system products and utility-scale battery storage.
Vancouver-based Energy Plug Technologies and its battery company co-owned by the Malahat Nation have signed a memorandum of understanding with engineering firm Enwind Power, “a company specializing in the research and development of power sciences and battery-based applications in Taiwan,” Energy Plug said in a release.
The team will research and develop microgrid system products and utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) products, providing “engineered solutions to utilities, commercial and industrial verticals to support the expansion of the microgrid industry in Canada.”
The parties will also “seek to devise strategies for product localization and battery software systems tailored for the Canadian, North American, and Latin American markets.”
“Utilities are looking for both behind-the-meter and residential solutions, and microgrids are increasingly integrating renewable energy solutions,” Energy Plug CEO and President Brodie Gunning said in an interview. “This is especially true in rural and remote communities, in an effort to reduce dependence on diesel.”
With worldwide energy consumption set to rise by more than 50% by 2050, microgrids—localized groups of energy sources that can operate independently or in tandem—are increasingly being seen as important for sustaining grid resilience and reliability.
“The current grid is not equipped to handle this type of influx in demand as it stands, which is why we need microgrid solutions to help bridge the gap between supply and demand,” Gunning said.
In addition to enhancing stability, microgrids “can reduce infrastructure upgrade costs while creating potentially new community energy programs that create stability and possible new cash flow sources in Indigenous and deregulated energy markets,” he added.
Energy Plug has partnered with Malahat Nation, located on southeastern Vancouver Island in British Columbia to build Canada’s first Indigenous-led gigafactory, a 100,000-square-foot facility that will assemble grid-scale lithium iron phosphate battery packs. The facility is also intended to build the battery technology for the partnership with Enwind, said Gunning.
