Alberta’s first utility-scale, lithium-ion energy storage project which utilizes Tesla Megapacks is now officially online.
TransAlta renewables announced the 10MW WindCharger project began commercial operation on October 15. Construction on the project began in March of this year, and is situated on the Summerview Windfarm in Pincher Creek in southern Alberta.
The batteries will store energy from the windfarm, and then discharge it into the Alberta Electricity Grid during high-peak demand.
The project has an installed capacity of 10MW, and a total storage capacity of 20MW. According to TransAlta, the facility will be able to store enough energy to power the whole Municipal District of Pincher Creek for 1.5 hours on a single charge.
Once used up, the batteries can be fully charged in approximately 2 hours entirely from the wind farm, making it “a truly renewable battery energy storage system.”
“The completion of the WindCharger project is an important milestone as we progress towards our goal of providing clean, reliable and low-cost energy solutions to our customers,” TransAlta Renewables President, John Kousinioris.
This may be the first Tesla Megapack to come online in Alberta, but it won’t be the last. We reported earlier this month that a subsidiary of TD Bank will be installing three 20MW Tesla Megapacks in northern Alberta. Once complete in mid-2021, it will be the largest installation of its kind in Canada
