TC Energy Corp Targets Military Site for New Project

(Bloomberg) — The owner of Keystone Pipeline has struck a deal with Canada’s Department of National Defence to build Ontario’s biggest battery on military training grounds about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Toronto.

TC Energy Corp. plans to build a 1,000-megawatt pumped-energy storage project on the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre’s property, TC Energy said Thursday in a statement. Pumped storage projects use huge reservoirs and gravity to store energy and generate power.

The effort in Canada’s most populous province aims to reduce reliance on natural gas-fired power generation and save Ontario electricity consumers C$250 million ($200 million) a year while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 490,000 metric tons, according to the Calgary-based company.

TC Energy, which owns and operates pipelines and power plants across North America, is tapping into a growing push to develop more cleaner energy storage facilities as part of efforts by governments and industry to shift away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions through less polluting technologies.

Power and storage is the smallest of TC Energy’s three main businesses, bringing in 3.3% of revenue last year compared to about 78% for natural gas pipelines and 18% from oil pipelines, according to Bloomberg data. TC Energy’s Ontario project will take eight years to build and is subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approvals and assurances that the project won’t affect military activities and training.

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