Alberta Innovates sinks $1.5M into energy storage projects
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Agency hopes to accelerate the renewable revolution with investment
EDMONTON—The Energy and Environment Solutions corporation of Alberta Innovates has announced $1.5 million in funding for six new energy storage projects that aim to help the province meet its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy.
“Clean power generation is a critical challenge for Alberta. Our goal is to have 20 per cent electricity generation from renewable energy in 2030. These energy storage projects will be instrumental in harnessing Alberta’s renewable resources and integrating them onto the electricity grid affordably and efficiently,” Mark Summers, director of renewable energy for AI-EES, said.
AI-EES Board of Directors has allocated $250,000 each for the development of the following projects:
- Unify Energy: Liverpool Wind and Regenerative Air Energy Storage Project
- TransAlta Emerging Technologies: TransAlta Commercial-Scale Battery Pilot Project
- ZincNyx Energy Solutions Inc.: Zinc-Air Fuel Cell for Renewable Energy Storage
- University of Calgary: Redox Flow Battery Innovation for Large Scale Electrical Energy Storage
- Ambri: Project Energy Bank
- Eguana Technologies: Distributed Lithium-Ion Storage for Demand Charge Reduction.
“Alberta has strong wind and solar energy resources. Developing these resources offers a great opportunity to reduce provincial greenhouse gas emissions and provide long-term sustainable energy,” Summers said.
Solar and wind energy are intermittent by nature, and some of the most promising resources in Alberta are largely concentrated in certain regions of the province. According to Summers, “this creates challenges for increasing the deployment of renewable energy to augment fossil fuel consumption in a significant way. Investing in new technologies will lead to broader use of renewable energy within Alberta’s interconnected electric system.”
Proposals were invited from qualified researchers, technology developers, and project developers within academic institutions, research and development organizations, private, government centres, and not-for-profit organizations.
Applications were accepted from around the globe but to be considered, projects had to demonstrate that the technology was applicable and well-suited for grid-scale energy storage on Alberta’s electric system. Proposed projects could be at any stage of development from initial proof‐of‐concept to deployment in Alberta.
