- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

The Meaford Community Centre was at capacity, with more waiting at the door for TC Energy to begin its first public meeting Wednesday evening to answer questions about its proposed pumped storage facility.

Referring to it as “Ontario’s battery”, the TCEnergy representative John Mikelsen said the project would store 1000 megawatts of energy, or enough to power one million Ontario homes for 8 hours.

The project is planned for what was termed an “ideal site” - 150 metres of elevation, close to both water and transmission capacity, on Department of National Defense (DND) land. This land north and west of Meaford, commonly known as the Tank Range, was expropriated in 1942 as a war measure and is now used for military training.

Ontario has periods of excess supply because nuclear plants cannot be turned on and off as demand changes. Currently that excess is sold to neighbouring markets, or wasted. The purpose of the project is to use power when demand is low and feed power into the grid when demand is high.

Mikelsen was clear on what TC Enegy perceives as the benefits of the project, claiming it will reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of removing 150,000 cars from Ontario's roads every year, provide local economic benefit and as many as 800 local jobs during construction, and lower Ontario electricity rates.

Mikelsen was not surprised by the level of interest in the region, nor thrown by the antagonistic tone in the room. People had come from as far as Owen Sound and Wasaga, some with protest signs and petitions, primarily to offer opinions and ask questions about the specifics TC Energy admits it does not yet know: the impact on drinking water quality, fish and fish habitat; the effect on property values, traffic and tourism; and the pressures on labour availability, infrastructure and housing.

These are very early days for the project. So far the Saugeen Ojibway Nation has been brought into conversations, fulfilling the legal duty of the Crown to consult on any decision that may impact the rights of Indigenous peoples. The DND is doing an operational impact study, which will determine if the project can proceed any further. If that is a “go”, there will be an impact study, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change will make a decision whether the public benefit exceeds any risks. Only then could the licensing process begin, requiring both federal and provincial environmental assessments before a 3 to 4 year build.

The earliest this project could be completed would be 2028.

This type of pumped storage is currently used worldwide for 160,000 megawatts of energy, representing 99% of all bulk electrical energy storage.

Further public meetings are set for January 16 and 23rd, and others will be scheduled after that.