Energy storage as core infrastructure

What happened: Canada’s biggest battery energy storage system (BESS) broke ground this week. It’s a uniquely Canadian project, with Potentia Renewables leading the build in partnership with the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Canadian Solar’s e-STORAGE division is delivering the system.

The project is part of Ontario’s big bet on battery storage through the LT-1 Reliability procurement. It’s expected to deliver 411 MW or 1.86 GWh of battery storage capacity to Ontario’s grid. Most LT1 projects include Indigenous equity stakes.

The context: This groundbreaking signals the start of a larger build-out of wind, solar, and storage. A CanREA market outlook projects 12–16 GW of new storage added in Canada by 2035 and between $143–205B in investment.

BESS fills a critical gap for the electricity system, charging when renewable energy is abundant and prices are low, and then discharging when demand increases.

The build-out is driven by rising industrial demand from electrification, EVs, new data centres, and avoiding emissions from adding gas capacity. Storage complements variable renewable energy while taking the pressure off of fights over nuclear and gas build outs.

Notably, storage contract prices in this procurement were well below those of gas-fired generation.

Why it matters: Projects like Skyview 2 are the first of a larger build out. Grids across Canada - and the world - need to add massive amounts of flexible capacity to integrate renewables, keep up with demand from electrification and data centres while maintaining reliability.

Energy storage is also a bright spot for energy companies like Canadian Solar, which saw battery storage deliveries outpace solar.

The bottom line: While installed capacity is still low (<1GW) Canada’s grid is increasingly treating storage as core infrastructure, not an edge case.

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