Imagine nearly a billion dollars of investment arriving in South Dundas in a single project. It is not difficult to picture what that could look like, as a project of that scale broke ground last week in neighbouring Edwardsburgh–Cardinal, less than two kilometres from its boundary with South Dundas.
The Skyview 2 Battery Energy Storage System facility on Dobbie Road will be the largest such facility in Canada when it is completed in 2027. Once online, the facility will store enough electricity to power 400,000 homes in Eastern Ontario. It will take electricity generated in low-demand periods and store it, to be released to the electricity grid during times of peak demand. BESS systems are the missing part of environmentally friendly generation like solar and wind—the place to store electricity until it is needed.
Skyview 2 is not just a benefit to the electricity system. As a host community, Edwardsburgh–Cardinal will receive nearly $700,000 a year in municipal property taxes, and a $300,000 yearly community fund to support initiatives within that township. That is $1 million per year, for 30 years, that E-C residents will benefit from. As the township’s mayor, Tory Deschamps, said at the groundbreaking, the project is historic—not just transformational.
BESS projects are not without risks. The technology uses lithium-ion batteries which—if they fail—can burn for days through a process called thermal runaway. Fires at BESS facilities are difficult to extinguish or contain. A large-scale failure may cause environmental damage to the surrounding land. Those risks are among the reasons why a majority of South Dundas council voted against being a willing host to a proposed twin project in this municipality. Only South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad supported this community hosting a BESS project, and he should not have been alone in that.
No industrial project or facility is without risks. South Dundas hosts several facilities that—when viewed through potential environmental risks—would have been turned down if viewed through the same lens as the BESS project rejection. Oil additives, plastics manufacturing, the biosolids industry (storage, transportation, and reconstitution of liquid fertilizer), wind-turbine generation, and even agriculture as a whole are not without environmental or fire risk.
As with all industrial projects, there must be a balance between risk and reward. Edwardsburgh–Cardinal has said yes when others, including South Dundas, said no, and will see significant investment and reward from Skyview 2. When future opportunities—whether BESS or other industry—appear, South Dundas needs to follow the example set by Edwardsburgh–Cardinal and not wait for a Goldilocks project. Otherwise, the right fit may never appear.
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