Northland Power's Ontario BESS Project Reaches Milestone

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Northland Power Incorporated (Toronto, Ontario), which develops, owns and operates renewable energy-generation projects across four continents, on Wednesday announced the financial close of the largest battery-energy storage (BESS) project in Canada. Industrial Info is tracking more than US$8 billion worth of active Northland projects worldwide, including more than US$1.4 billion worth in the U.S. and Canada.

Northland Power owns or has an economic interest in 3 gigawatts (GW) of operating generating capacity, according to the company website, and has more than 20 GW of potential capacity under construction and in various stages of development; that includes 5 GW worth in development in North America, according to the company's February 3 investor day presentation. The company aims to reach net-zero by 2040.

The 250-megawatt (MW), 1,000-megawatt-hour US$450 million Oneida BESS project in Jarvis, Ontario, is expected to reach full commercial operations in 2025. The facility has a 20-year contract with the Ontario Independent Electric System Operator (IESO) and will double the amount of energy storage on Ontario's clean-energy grid, according to the Northland website. The BESS would utilize Tesla Incorporated's (NASDAQ:TSLA) (Austin, Texas) "Megapack" large-scale energy-storage model. Northland currently owns 72% of the project, which is being developed in partnership with NRStor Incorporated (Toronto), Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and Aecon Group Incorporated (Toronto, Ontario); Aecon is performing engineering, procurement and construction services. Construction is expected to begin next year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can read more in a detailed project report.

As part of a joint venture with Ontario Power Generation (OPG), which is wholly owned by the Ontario government, Northland is developing the proposed US$600 million Marmora Pumped Storage Hydro Station, which would be located at the site of an abandoned mine. Pumped-storage hydropower projects involve water being pumped to a higher elevation in times of low energy demand and released via turbines when demand is high. The project would have a capacity of 400 MW, enough to power about 400,000 homes. Click here for a project report.

In terms of U.S. projects, Northland expects to wrap up construction of the 125-MW Bluestone Windfarm in Windsor, New York, near the Pennsylvania border, and an accompanying 6.2-MW BESS, later this month. According to the company website, the utility-scale wind project will connect to an existing New York State Electric and Gas Corporation transmission line, delivering power to the New York State grid. Northland did not mention a specific line. Subscribers can see detailed reports on the Bluestone wind and BESS projects.

Another of Northland's New York wind projects is also expected to wrap up in the near future: the US$90 million Ball Hill Windpark near South Dayton, about 45 miles south of Buffalo. Construction involves erecting wind turbines from Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Aarhus, Denmark). The project will connect to an existing National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (London, England) transmission line, according to the Northland website; it did not mention a specific line. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Regarding the company's 2023 project activity, Mike Crawley, the chief executive officer of Northland, said in a first-quarter earnings press release that the renewable-energy developer's "focus remains primarily on advancing our committed projects expected to reach financial close this year. Longer-term, our focus centers on advancing our 20-GW pipeline. Our large pipeline allows us to be selective with respect to which projects we ultimately advance."

First-quarter capital expenditures of C$79.8 million (US$59 million) were up from C$15.1 million (US$11.1 million) year-over year.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI project and plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for active Northland Power projects worldwide.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).