Tesla lands gigawatt hour order for Megapack batteries to help muscle out gas

Canada’s biggest big battery, a 250MW/1GWh system being built in southwestern Ontario, will be made up of Tesla Megapacks, the project’s developers have revealed.

NRStor Inc says the huge project, a joint venture with the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, has locked in a supply agreement with Tesla after finalising development and grid connection approvals.

Aecon Group has been signed up to lead the engineering, procurement, and construction of the project.

“The Oneida Energy Storage Project is the largest of its kind in Canada and amongst the largest in the world,” the company said in a statement.

“It will provide a gigawatt-hour of much needed capacity to the Ontario grid, while prioritising local Indigenous partnerships and environmental benefits.”

The news marks yet another big supply deal for Tesla and its Megapack batteries, the company’s grid-scale energy storage technology with a capacity of 3.9MWh per single module and a power rating of 1.9MW.

First unveiled in 2019, Megapacks have been tapped for a number of the world’s biggest big battery projects, including Australia’s largest in operation to date, the 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery near Geelong.

Also in Australia, Edify Energy has selected Megapack technology for three large scale battery projects in the NSW south west that will total 150MW with around two hours of storage.

In Canada, NRStor says the Oneida big battery will help meet Ontario’s future electricity needs by load-shifting surplus renewable energy and by helping to stabilise the grid with balancing services.

The energy storage project is also expected to reduce the need and cost associated with using gas-fired power plants during times of peak demand, cutting the region’s emissions and pushing down power costs for consumers.