Ontario is using batteries to help keep energy flowing — the province's newest facility is in Windsor

A new project has been connected to the energy grid in Windsor-Essex that will help keep the lights on whenever there's more demand for power than there is supply. 

The owner of Walker Battery Energy Storage System near Windsor's airport says the facility can power about 3,000 homes for up to four hours.

"The main feature of the batteries is that incredible flexibility that they provide to the grid and being able to ramp up and down quickly," said John Cheszes, president of Compass Greenfield Development. 

The site is the second to connect to the grid in Ontario and is expected to be one of many across the province as part of an effort to meet growing energy demand. 

"These are the first of many, I think, within our service area," said Gary Rossi, president and CEO of Enwin. 

"It helps with capacity issues and helps with growth."

The site is connected to Ontario's energy grid. It charges when demand for power is low and sends power back to the grid when demand is high or there's a drop in supply. 

Facility expected to help reduce emissions

Cheszes said once they're notified about demand, the facility can be activated within minutes to provide power. 

"The batteries have already been operated for short periods of time, within a five minute interval, where there may be a blip on the grid or a peak in demand," he said while giving a tour of the new facility. 

The site is about the size of a football field and can discharge 15 megawatts of power back to the grid for up to four hours before it's exhausted the charge.

It's also a clean energy project that can be used as an alternative to natural gas burning projects, like the Brighton Beach facility in Windsor. 

That operation burns natural gas and is used at times when Ontario has higher demand for energy, while discharging energy back to the grid from the battery facility produces no emissions. 

"It's really exciting," said Phil McKay, senior director for distributed energy resources and grid integration with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. 

"So as wind energy blows and the sun rises, we can store and shift power over the course of a day, over the course of a week, and use more of that clean electricity that we've already got being generated here."

More projects coming amid concerns

Ontario's first battery storage facility opened in Haldimand County and is able to store up to 250 megawatts of power, which the company says is enough to power a city the size of Oshawa for an hour.

It's owned and operated by Northland Power and is one of the biggest operations of its kind in the world. 

Ontario has also approved the Tilbury Battery Storage project, with 80 megawatts of power which is expected to come online later this year. 

A similar project has been approved outside of Ottawa amid complaints from neighbours,  who wanted the city to stop the project from going forward. 

"My residents now see that we are kind of the guinea pigs," said Ottawa Coun. Clarke Kelly, whose ward will be home to the project.

"[Rural property] is where we're going to put these projects to bolster regional economic development — and I think that's where you'll see some resentments from rural residents."

McKay with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association said the nervousness is expected when something new comes to a community. 

"But as they get installed, as people live in and around them, they get to become more comfortable with it and it becomes easier. It just becomes a normal part of life," he said. 

"This is the beginning of a lot of growth that's coming to Ontario and right across the country."