County of Brant Council received a request for a municipal support resolution for a proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) during its regular Council meeting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
With Ontario facing energy demands, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has been undergoing a large-scale effort to secure enough energy resources for the 2030s and beyond.
Bogdan Dinu of Ferma Energy and Aaron Weigel of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., explained that Ferma intends to submit a proposal to IESO for a BESS with an anticipated capacity of 250 Megawatts (MW), on a 95-acre parcel of land located at the corner of Bishopsgate Road and Fairfield Road (south of Burford and just north of Scotland).
“The site, which will be leased from the landowners, is an ideal location for this type of project because of its proximity to high voltage lines, and especially the lines having capacity. The project would sit on approximately 30 acres and be interconnected to those 230 kilovolt (kV) lines that run east to west,” Dinu. “The parcel is the location of a former aggregate quarry that was operated by Brant Aggregates until 2025 and the land is flat and clear with no known environmental concerns or sensitivities.”
The Ferma representative said that while the company has conducted various outreach and engagement efforts for the location, including conversations with conservation authorities, and received generally positive feedback from multiple stakeholders, the County’s planning department said the parcel has two designations and would need to be rezoned.
Dinu also went on to say that the project, called Fairfield Storage, proposes to collect excess energy produced in the afternoons, evenings and overnight, store it within battery banks and discharge it throughout the day to help smooth out the demand curve and improve power quality.
“Because Ontario can often over produce from our nuclear and our wind project fleets, and because energy always needs to balance a supply and demand, if there’s excess capacity, it usually has to be sent to other jurisdictions, and that means paying locations like New York or Michigan to take power off our hands,” he explained. “The solution we’re proposing would mean that Ontario could retain that power within our borders and then utilize it when we need it throughout the day.”
Noting the Innergex is currently in the process of acquiring the project and will be the long-term owner and operator of the asset, Weigel said the project represents roughly half a billion dollars in development, which translates into significant property tax revenue.
He also said that the use of batteries support low-cost and reliable energy by reducing voltage issues or brownouts in the community,
“They also allow for the efficient use of all the existing resources across the system, including renewables, but also gas and nuclear, so you do end up with lower costs overall,” he said. There’s also emissions reductions as there’s not going to be any exhaust from these batteries out there.”
Weigel also added that Innergex likes to set aside a bucket of dollars to help the community with things that may be needed.
“That means that if the fire department doesn’t have all the right equipment to fight battery fires, granted, they’re usually contained, we can help pay for things like that,” he said. “As well, we invest in things the community finds valuable. It’s obviously much too early to put numbers on those or to quantify them, but that is a portion of the benefits that we would want to have discussions with with you all as we move forward.”
Dinu said that if they can receive a municipal support resolution for the proposed BESS, they’ll be submitting the proposal in December of 2025, and should hear back by June 2026. If they are awarded the contract, construction would likely start in 2027 and the project could be operational by 2028.
According to the Ferma webpage, the capacity contracts provided by the IESO are 20 years in duration.
“The typical life of these systems is between 20 and 30 years, potentially longer with modifications and upgrades. At the contract expiration, there could be negotiations with the IESO, Municipality and landowner to keep the facility running,” the webpage states. “Ultimately, when the project is no longer needed or capable of operating, decommissioning will take place in which the facility will be removed, most parts will be processed and recycled, and the land will be restored to its existing conditions. The long-term owner would ensure that funds are available to cover the complete decommissioning of the project. Sometimes, the municipality or other authorities will want to be named beneficiaries of the bond.”
After the presentation, Ward 3 Councillor John Peirce asked if the companies had any conversations with local First Nation communities, and Dinu said that the Mississaugas of the Credit Business Corporation (MCBC), which is a wholly-owned entity of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, have been actively engaged with the project and are currently in negotiations to enter the development as an equity partner.
Noting that it helps, when asking for municipal support, to understand what kind of business the County would be supporting, Peirce’s wardmate, Councillor John Bell, later asked if Innergex had successfully completed and operated a large-scale BESS in Canada before.
“We don’t currently have battery projects operating in Canada, partly because the market here is relatively new,” responded Weigel. “We have operational assets in Hawaii and in Chile right now for batteries, and we’re actively bidding on gigawatts of batteries in Michigan and other states in the U.S. We have constructed three battery projects, and we have over, I want to say seven gigawatts of operational renewables, which includes hydro, wind, solar, and batteries.”
Bell also inquired if there were any plans to deal with a fire should one occur at the BESS.
“The biggest thing for fire is training so we know what is on site, and where is best to go and not to go,” said Darren Watson, the County’s Fire Chief. “The other thing would be additional resources, so there could be some equipment that we would need to safely and effectively protect exposures. We wouldn’t fight what’s on fire, but we would protect the exposures.”
After further discussion, it was suggested that the decision to provide municipal support to the companies be deferred until County staff could come back with a report, as there were still questions surrounding the project.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
