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TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2026 /CNW/ -- Energy Storage Canada (ESC) recognized the organizations and individuals helping advance Canada's energy storage sector as part of the 2026 Energy Storage Canada Awards.

Presented at Energy Storage Canada Conference: The Storage Advantage, the annual awards celebrate leadership, innovation, research and achievement across Canada's energy storage industry. This year's recipients reflect the breadth of work underway to strengthen electricity systems, introduce new technologies and applications, improve grid reliability and support the continued growth of energy storage across the country.

Energy Storage Canada is supporting the newly released report, An Atlantic Canadian Energy Future, developed by the Atlantic Energy Collective, a pan-Atlantic initiative representing more than 30 organizations across utilities, Indigenous partners, industry, labour, research institutions, and national energy policy organizations.

The report presents a practical framework for advancing durable regional energy collaboration to address mounting pressures on Atlantic Canada’s electricity and natural gas systems, including reliability risks, affordability challenges, infrastructure renewal requirements, and constraints on economic growth.

While the Atlantic provinces are physically interconnected, planning and investment decisions are largely made on a province-by-province basis. The report concludes that these fragmented approaches are no longer sufficient to manage the system risk, scale of capital investment, and economic opportunity facing the region.

Energy storage already ticks every box for national interest: job creation, economic security, emissions reductions, and grid resilience. But so far, it has been left off the priority list. That needs to change.

EPRI and Energy Storage Canada (ESC) have announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create a practical platform for collaboration that delivers insights to support the growth of energy storage and the broader energy transition across Canada and North America. This collaboration aims to deliver objective, actionable insights that can enhance grid reliability, flexibility, and affordability.

What does Canada do with excess energy? How is it stored today and how will it be stored as the energy industry evolves? Justin Rangooni, CEO of Energy Storage Canada, shares how energy storage supports a sustainable future for Canadians—from enhanced flexibility to affordability, large-scale grids to individual consumer needs. Listen to episode 152 of thinkenergy to learn about ongoing projects and challenges facing the energy storage sector in Canada.

Listen on thinkenergypodcast.com

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2024 World Energy Outlook signalled the need for the world to “massively increase its energy storage capacity” in the coming years and further highlighted that energy storage resources will be a “key source of dispatchable capacity globally.” In 2023, the global energy storage market nearly tripled, and 2024 is positioned to deliver more than 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of capacity in a single year for the first time. Established energy storage technologies, such as lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS), have reached their lowest price point since 2017, dropping to $115 per kilowatt hour (KWh). Emerging technologies are transitioning from pilot projects to large-scale deployments, offering a diverse array of storage solutions for grid operators.

Toronto, ON – December 9, 2024 – Today the Ontario Energy Association (OEA) and Energy Storage Canada (ESC) released From Small to Mighty: Unlocking DER’s to Meet Ontario’s Electricity Needs. The report recommends a policy and regulatory framework aimed at enabling the widespread adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) across the province. Such a forward-looking strategy would maximize benefits for electricity customers through affordability, bill savings, and enhanced resilience; for the electricity grid through improved reliability; and for economic and environmental benefits through emission reductions.

A Framework for DERs in Ontario

The vision emphasizes empowering Ontario residents and businesses to manage their energy costs through DERs, such as rooftop solar panels, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and demand-response technologies. By leveraging DERs, the province can enhance affordability, grid reliability, and emissions reductions.

“To most efficiently meet Ontario’s future energy needs requires us to modernize our policies, regulatory framework and electricity grid to accommodate and integrate distributed energy resources (DERs),” said Vince Brescia, President & CEO, Ontario Energy Association. “The framework put forward today provides one key element of a customer-centric, scalable, and environmentally responsible approach to meeting some of Ontario’s growing energy demands.”

“Energy Storage of all types and durations is going to be critical to meeting the future needs of Ontario’s electricity system and this absolutely includes leveraging the value energy storage systems can provide as DERs,” said Justin Rangooni, President & CEO, Energy Storage Canada. “Ensuring the alignment of procurement and planning to enable DERs, enabling DERs’ full participation in IESO markets & procurements, and modernizing the province’s policy and regulatory frameworks will ensure we are utilizing the full range of benefits DERs can provide the grid to increase affordability, flexibility, and reliability in the electricity system.”

Toronto, ON – On the evening of October 8, Energy Storage Canada (ESC) recognized five leaders and innovators in the Canadian energy storage sector as part of their third annual, Energy Storage Canada Awards. Awards were distributed as part of the first evening of their two-day annual Energy Storage Canada Conference, the only national energy storage conference in Canada, which is going into its ninth year.

The first Board of Directors-selected award this year recognized Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) as the 2024 Friend of Energy Storage Award recipient. The Board emphasized the IESO’s consistent and early engagement with industry stakeholders, since 2012, to provide a viable pathway for energy storage to contribute to the province’s energy grid. Pilot projects and advisory boards over the course of several years culminated one of the largest energy storage procurements in North America, and the largest in Canada to date with over 3000 MW of energy storage procured.

Second, the Board jointly recognized Matt Jamieson, CEO of Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and Mark B. Hill, former Chief of Six Nations of the Grand River, current Principal Partner with Rezolve Strategies for the 2024 Pioneer in Energy Storage Award. Both were early proponents and partners in Canada’s first large-scale battery energy storage projects with 50/50 ownership for an Indigenous or First Nation Community in Canada with the Oneida BESS project. Their articulation of the value of the project and their collaboration with their community led to developing and finalizing a first of its kind partnership for energy storage that can serve as a template for equal partner projects in the energy storage industry across Canada.

“We’re in our third year of recognizing the innovation and leadership of Canada’s energy storage sector,” said ESC Executive Director, Justin Rangooni. “Each year we’re seeing more projects announced, more development taking place, and more awareness of the potential of energy storage to contribute to Canada’s future grid across the country. We’re excited by the opportunity to recognize the incredible work that is being done.”

First of this year’s nominated awards, the 2024 Energy Storage Milestone Award, recognized Canadian manufacturer, Invinity Energy Systems, for the recent milestone completion completion of an expansion of their manufacturing facility in British Columbia, which will now have capacity to produce 200MWh of vanadium flow batteries annually. The completion will support the growth and expansion of the energy storage market, contributing to the timely and reliable delivery of products for project development. Second to be recognized was Rodan Energy Solutions, recipient of the 2024 Landmark Application of Energy Storage Award, for the unique integration and implementation of a battery energy storage system (BESS) plus uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system for a glass manufacturer in Collingwood Ontario. The double conversion system which augments the system’s reliability, and the containerized form of the solution which facilitates scalability, make this application of technologies unique.

Climate action and the energy transition will be a hot topic in the upcoming British Columbia election campaign. Former cabinet ministers, a past party leader, industry and energy experts in BC are coming together to support Energy Storage Canada’s election platform for all political parties and candidates.
 
“B.C. is a proud leader in climate action,” says former B.C. Green Party Leader and climate scientist Andrew Weaver. “Energy storage is essential to maximizing the ability of renewable energy, and building out renewable energy is essential to climate action.”
 
“Energy Storage Canada members are at the forefront of the energy transition and need government to ensure that BC's electrical grid remains reliable, renewable and affordable with diverse energy storage resources,” says former B.C. New Democrat energy minister, Michelle Mungall who is now the Senior Advisor for BC Initiatives at Energy Storage Canada. “Our plan lays out concrete actions any government can take so that British Columbians will continue to rely on clean renewable electricity well into the future.”
 
Energy Storage Canada has six recommendations for immediate action that will unlock the full benefits energy storage has for B.C.’s electrical grid and economy. The next government will need to make legislative, regulatory and permitting changes to ensure proper siting and infrastructure development while also implementing tax credits and skills training to grow this important industry.
 
Capacity procurement at BC Hydro will be necessary to both support peak demands and maximize existing transmission infrastructure. This type of investment reduces long term system costs and helps to keep rates low.
 
Also critical will be increased funding for the BC Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative so that remote and indigenous off-grid communities can meet provincial goals in transitioning from diesel power to renewable energy plus storage.

“BC has a generational opportunity to unlock economic activity across the Province as we build our energy system,” says Colleen Giroux-Schmidt, Vice President Corporate Relations at Innergex and Board Chair at Clean Energy BC. “ We recognize the critical role that Indigenous Peoples play in facilitating and advancing the clean energy transition.”

 
"British Columbians want clean, renewable energy sources, and electricity demand is growing fast,” states Dan Woynillowicz, Principal of Polaris Strategy and Insight and former member of the government’s BC Hydro Task Force. “To meet this demand the next government needs to ensure diverse storage resources are part of a program to keep the lights on and rates low.”

Please find the full details of Energy Storage Canada's election platform here.