A pair of new grid-scale battery facilities are up and running in Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia Power’s sites in Bridgewater and Waverley were energized late last year and system testing has been completed.
They’re part of Nova Scotia Power’s grid-scale battery project.
The utility has described it as “the largest battery installation in Atlantic Canada,” and it includes three 50-megawatt/four-hour battery installations in three communities across the province.
The project is expected to help improve reliability of service and get the province to its goal of 80 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
The new systems have already been put into use, providing backup power sources during periods of high peak demand through the recent cold snaps in December and over the weekend of Jan. 24 and 25.
Nova Scotia Power chief operating officer Dave Pickles said the battery sites allow the utility to story renewable energy and deliver it when Nova Scotians need it most.
There is some question about the usefulness of the sites after Nova Scotia Power issued a request to customers to conserve electricity last weekend.
According to the utility, they were close to short, rotating outages during the extreme cold.
They said the deep freeze pushed demand near the limits of the grid was capable of supplying.
