The City of Ottawa’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee approved the changes for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), set to guide the land use policy direction for building battery energy storage systems in the nation’s capital, such as establishing a size limit.
BESS is an emerging technology using batteries to store extra energy from the electrical grid for future use. It works to make electricity systems more reliable.
It can draw and store energy from the grid during off-peak hours, absorbing electricity when demand is lower and discharging it back to the grid in periods of high demand, wrote the City of Ottawa in a news release.
It also provides backup power to individual sites and supports the provincial grid, the municipality added.
“Since phasing out natural gas fired power stations, the Ontario government has forecasted the need to expand the electricity grid to meet higher electrification of large energy consuming sectors, including transportation and manufacturing,” the city’s website reads.