There are calls for St. Clair Township to take another look at three energy generation projects coming to the community.

But it appears to be too late since letter of support is already in the mail.
Enbridge Gas plans to build three battery energy storage systems in St. Clair, one on Tecumseh Road, one on Ladysmith Line and one on Petrolia Line. They’re all to the east and south of Nova Chemical’s plant at the corner of Petrolia Line and Highway 40.

Denise Heckbert of Enbridge outlined the project to St. Clair council just before Christmas. Each site will have individual units with lithium ion batteries. When the power demand is low, they’ll charge on the system. When it’s high, they return power to the grid, she says.

Each of the three sites could produce up to 200 MW of power.
Heckbert was looking for St. Clair Township to back the plan as Enbridge competes for the rights to generate energy with about 20 other companies at the Independent Energy System Operator. The bids have to be complete by Feb. 16 with the projects being awarded in May.

Residents at the Dec. 19 meeting voiced concern, knowing that similar power generators in California had caught fire causing massive fall out.

One farmer on Ladysmith Line, where one of the units will be placed less than one kilometre from his herds, wondered if he would have to evacuate in case of a fire and if his $4 million herd was damaged, would Enbridge pay.

Another resident wanted to know if Enbridge would be providing the equipment and training to deal with any fires.

Heckbert said they would. And she said the battery units used now are not linked, making the prospect of a massive fire less likely.

She added the units would be in service for 22 years, beginning in 2024, should Enbridge win the contract.

Council decided to give the company a letter of support for the project, in part because township staff said the municipality could do nothing to stop it if the province approved.

When neighbours of the site heard council gave its support to the project with few details, there were calls for council to reconsider.
Meindert Wolff asked council to withdraw its support.

“While appreciative of the municipal taxes paid by Enbridge, we all pay our fair share and at the very least I expect municipal leadership to negotiate conditions to neutralize risk and liability for residents not simply offering unconditional support for Enbridge to take advantage of another high profit opportunity at our risk and expense,” he wrote in a letter to council which was on Monday’s council agenda. He’s also concerned with the amount of farm land each unit would take – about 20 acres.

Chad Anderson, a beef farmer, was also incensed. “I am familiar with operating under the shadow of Enbridge’s natural gas operation as well as the rubber stamping this municipality gives this corporation to basically operate at their own will while ignoring landowner interests, but this takes the cake.

“How dare the council endorse a concept that has so little details with respect to construction and design. You now become a willing partner in what I see as three 40 acre bomb sites established on already natural gas facilities…a bomb within a bomb so to speak, in my backyard,” he wrote.

And Santo Giorno, a local expert on green energy projects, says St. Clair Township staff made an error. The municipality does now have a large say in what green energy projects can be approved within its borders.

“Enbridge’s proposed projects cannot proceed without formal support from the township and without the township receiving rezoning or zoning exemption for an industrial project on agricultural lands. The province will not overrule the township’s decision on this matter,” he wrote.

“Council’s decision for a motion of support was made without all relevant information made available.”

Giorno also voiced concern about the possibility of fire at the sites.

“In the California fire, people evacuated for a three km radius,” he said asking how many homes would be within five kilometres of the new sites, should they be approved, and if there would be a communications plan if there is a fire.

“The health hazard of battery fires, particularly the toxicity of gases released due to fire, should not be underestimated,” he added.

Despite the concerns, the township didn’t change course.

Town staff had already sent the letter of support to Enbridge.

Councillor Pat Brown, who suggest the township support the plan, admitted he didn’t like the locations and hoped Enbridge would look for others.
At the Jan. 16 council meeting, he said “maybe we could do some arm twisting to get them to look at other areas.”