![From 'fantasy thinking' to 'open for business': Alberta's rapidly evolving view of energy storage](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5987270.1698787239!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/transalta-windcharger.jpeg)
From 'fantasy thinking' to 'open for business': Alberta's rapidly evolving view of energy storage
CBC
In an impromptu exchange with an audience member at a conference in Calgary eight months ago, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith threw cold water over the idea of industrial-sized batteries on the province's electricity grid, saying the technology was too expensive and it was "fantasy thinking" to believe it could be deployed at scale.
In prepared remarks at a conference in Calgary on Wednesday, her government's utilities minister struck a different tone.
"These are exciting times and there is a lot going on in this space," Nathan Neudorf told a gathering of more than 150 people in energy storage and related industries.
"With other provinces within Canada continuing to allow more storage onto their grids, it is important that we in Alberta remind investors why this is the place to be. Our market is continuing to evolve and we want people to know that this sector is open for business."
Quite the about-face in less than a year's time. But such is the nature of the energy-storage industry: Things happen quickly.
"I think the lesson here is it's a relatively new technology, and we need to tell our story," said Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, which hosted the energy-storage conference.
"We have been working hard to try to educate the government on the value it brings."
Other jurisdictions have already made big bets on big batteries, she noted.
Ontario just announced plans to boost its energy-storage capacity to nearly 3,000 megawatts (MW). In the U.S., meanwhile, Texas is expected to add 6,500 MW this year alone, bringing its total capacity to roughly 10,000 MW — a milestone California has already surpassed.
Alberta's energy storage, by contrast, is miniscule. But it, too, has been growing rapidly.
Three new battery-storage facilities have been connected to Alberta's grid since Smith made her comments last October, boosting the total storage capacity by 60 MW to a total of 190 MW.
Those batteries also helped keep the lights on during the grid alert that struck Alberta amid the brutal cold snap in January — something Neudorf acknowledged Wednesday.
"That made a huge, positive difference during that grid alert," he told the crowd at the conference.
"Imagine what we can accomplish with even more energy storage at our disposal."