The Independent Electricity System Operator announced in early July that, as of May, seven Phase I energy storage facilities have completed commissioning and become operational at various locations around the province. This includes five facilities providing Reactive Support and Voltage Control service, and two facilities providing regulation service. The remaining four Phase I facilities are expected to enter service at various times over the course of the next 18 months. Phase I storage facilities are intended to support the province's efforts to better understand the integration and operation of energy storage in Ontario's electricity system and markets while providing ancillary services.
In the first phase, the IESO selected storage technologies offering ancillary services to support increased reliability and efficiency of the grid. In the second phase, the IESO sought technologies with a range of performance characteristics that can store energy when prices are lower and re-inject it at other times of the day when prices are higher.
In July 2014, the IESO selected the following five companies to provide ancillary services to the power grid:
• Canadian Solar Solutions Inc.
• Convergent Energy and Power LLC
• Dimplex North America LTD
• Hecate Energy
• Hydrogenics Corp.
Phase II complements the approximately 34 MW of grid energy storage procured in the earlier Phase I energy storage program. It identified new projects to achieve the remaining expectation of the 50 MW total grid energy storage target, and builds on the lessons learned in Phase I.
In this round, the IESO selected five proponents for contract offers, representing nine projects totalling 16.75 megawatts (MW). These projects include three different energy storage technologies: solid battery (four projects, 8 MW); flow battery (four projects, 7 MW); and compressed air (one project, 1.75 MW).
| Proponent | Technology | Capacity (MW) |
| Ameresco Canada Inc. | Battery – Solid | 2.0 |
| Ameresco Canada Inc. | Battery – Solid | 2.0 |
| SunEdison Canada Origination LP. | Battery – Flow | 2.0 |
| SunEdison Canada Origination LP. | Battery – Flow | 1.0 |
| SunEdison Canada Origination LP. | Battery – Flow | 2.0 |
| NextEra Canada Development & Acquisitions, Inc. | Battery – Solid | 2.0 |
| NextEra Canada Development & Acquisitions, Inc. | Battery – Solid | 2.0 |
| NRStor Inc. | Compressed Air | 1.75 |
| Baseload Power Corp. (formerly 2443453 Ontario Inc.) | Battery – Flow | 2.0 |
At present, two Phase II projects have achieved commercial operation and the remaining seven are in development. The IESO anticipates these seven contracts will achieve commercial operation by November 2019.