NRStor Completes Acquisition of 5MW Energy Storage Facility in Clear Creek, Ontario
Facility will be developed into Canada’s first hybrid battery and flywheel storage project
TORONTO, Canada – May 30, 2019 – NRStor Inc. (NRStor), a developer of energy storage projects, today announced it has completed the acquisition of a 5MW connected energy storage facility, located in Clear Creek, Ontario.
The Clear Creek facility was originally built by Temporal Power to showcase its industry-leading flywheel energy storage technology. With this acquisition, NRStor expands its flywheel energy storage portfolio, which already includes Canada’s first grid-scale flywheel energy storage facility in Minto, Ontario.
The facility is optimally located adjacent to a 20 megawatt (MW) wind farm and existing Hydro One electrical infrastructure. With support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and Hydro One, the facility originally demonstrated the effectiveness of distributed energy resources (DERs) and successfully completed reactive power validation and power quality testing. Ten 500 kilowatt (kW) flywheels were deployed in a modular arrangement to deliver 10 MW of flexible range (+/-5 MW) to the Ontario grid.
According to a recent study by Wood Mackenzie, the energy storage market has a potential to reach 3.9 GW/US$4.5 billion by 2023 (in the US alone), with the majority expected to come from chemical battery technology. NRStor intends to develop the Clear Creek site into one of the world’s first hybrid battery and flywheel projects. When considering a 20-year asset life and intensive cycling requirements, pairing a battery with a flywheel could
significantly extend battery life through reduced cycling and degradation.
“We are excited at the potential of this project to develop battery/flywheel operating expertise and intellectual property in Canada, that can be exported to help electricity systems around the world,” said Annette Verschuren, Chair and CEO of NRStor, Inc. “With Clear Creek, we have a unique opportunity to take advantage of a growing market and appetite for implementing energy storage systems to better manage costs, integrate renewables, and improve customer reliability.”
NRStor expects to have the full hybrid battery and flywheel system operational in 2020.