Berwick to host renewable energy storage pilot project
ANNAPOLIS VALLEY — With interest surrounding innovative projects putting the small town of Berwick on the national stage, the “Apple Capital” is becoming known as Nova Scotia’s green energy capital.
The Town of Berwick and Alba Nova — an Equilibrium Engineering company — signed a renewable energy and energy storage agreement on Jan. 15.
Berwick’s smart grid project is considered one of the most advanced in Canada. As part of the pilot, 10 homes have been selected to receive Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage with solar systems. Three large energy storage systems will be installed — at the Kings Mutual Century Centre, town hall and Berwick’s waste water treatment plant.
The systems are being manufactured now and will be shipped in February. The goal is to increase the use of environmentally friendly solar energy while saving money and preparing the Berwick Electric Commission’s grid for the future.
Funding for the project came after Equilibrium Engineering of Kentville and its project partners, StorTera of Scotland and Dalhousie University’s Renewable Energy Storage Lab, pitched a winning proposal to Natural Resources Canada as part of the Power Forward Challenge. The challenge brought firms from Canada and the United Kingdom together to collaborate on energy distribution projects.
Equilibrium Engineering operating partner Jeremy Lutes said they want to prove that economic opportunity and energy efficiency are not mutually exclusive.
Initial modelling indicates that the Berwick utility could save $100,000 to $120,000 through the pilot. Lutes said, if it turns out to be only half of that, there will still be significant savings for the town.
“That money ends up back on the bottom line for the town,” he said. “It’s real money for a real rural community to do real things with.”
He said the model could be replicated in other small towns with a municipally-owned electric utility. The project could also be scaled down to one large commercial or industrial facility, for example.
Equilibrium Engineering director of low carbon development Julian Boyle said municipal utilities are more nimble than larger entities, which is one reason they chose Berwick as a partner, and the utility fits the scale of the project well.
Choosing Berwick also enables them to “leapfrog past” some of the regulatory hurdles they could encounter working with a larger entity.
Boyle said Berwick has been an energy leader for years. They offer the cleanest, most reliable electricity in Nova Scotia at the lowest cost. The town has been “kicking the tires” on renewable energy storage for a couple of years and the pilot represents the next step.
“We are in the middle of one of the greatest transitions in our history around energy over the next five to 10 years,” Boyle said.
There was a real buzz surrounding the project in Berwick, Boyle added, and they’ve seen strong community buy-in. In September, a lottery was held to choose 10 Berwick Electric customers to take part. There were 78 interested homeowners.
Since the project is viewed as a springboard, Boyle said there would be more opportunities for other residents, in Berwick and beyond, to benefit from the technology.
He said the pilot would be a harmonious fit with Berwick’s solar garden initiative, as increased storage capability adds value to renewable energy. He said utilities would be promoting more time-of-use rates in the future, wanting customers to shift their energy load to benefit the grid as a whole.
“There’s very much a really great fit with this project and the technology with a larger community solar garden, and also smaller scale individual solar customers too,” Boyle said.