Under the agreement, PowerBank will provide services for the early development of a battery energy storage project opportunity to be submitted under the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) Second Long-term (c-2) procurement request for proposals.
If a contract is granted under the LT2(c2) program, PowerBank will enter into a fee-for-service agreement to bring the contract to the notice-to-proceed stage, which would be achieved upon full permitting. The Company will also have the right of first refusal to be the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction provider for the project, should a contract be granted. PowerBank will also assist 10001634281 Ontario Inc. with exploring a potential 18 MW BESS in Hamilton, Ontario.
The IESO is the independent, not-for-profit corporation responsible for operating Ontario's electricity market and directing the day-to-day operation of the province's power system, ensuring a reliable supply of electricity for the province.(1)
In response to Ontario's forecast electricity demand growth, the IESO is conducting the Long-Term Request for Proposals, its primary competitive procurement mechanism to secure new capacity and energy resources through the 2030s and beyond.(2).
Dr. Richard Lu, CEO of PowerBank Corporation commented, "Ontario is at the leading edge of a structural shift in how North America powers itself, and battery storage is becoming one of the defining infrastructure opportunities of this decade. This Agreement puts PowerBank in position to compete for that opportunity in one of the most active procurement markets on the continent, expanding on our experience from the development of the BESS SFF 06 project. We see this as an early step in what we expect to be a much larger presence for PowerBank in the Ontario energy storage market."
The Agreement establishes a partnership at a key time in the Ontario market for the development of energy capacity resources. Battery Energy Storage Systems are increasingly central to how Ontario plans to meet rising electricity demand, which the IESO expects to grow substantially over the coming decades as a result of population growth, electric vehicle adoption, data center development and broader electrification of the economy.
[1]: https://www.ieso.ca/en/Corporate-IESO/Who-We-Are
[2]: https://www.ieso.ca/Sector-Participants/Resource-Acquisition-and-Contracts/Long-Term-2-RFP
