Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 ENERGY STORAGE CANADA energy sources, energy storage solutions, and smart grid systems, while also maintaining the reliability and affordability of energy. Energy Storage Canada, based in Toronto, is emerging as a dominant voice within the North American energy sector. It has displayed an outstanding ability to address the diverse needs of consumers, businesses, and government entities alike. Its forward-thinking leadership and commitment to research and development stand as the key to ensuring equitable access and socio-economic sustainability. A Choice to Shape the Future Energy Storage Canada started in 2014 when a group of innovators within the energy sector realized how critical of a role sustainable energy solutions would play in the world going forward. America was already the third-largest energy producer and consumer, so it became clear that the energy sector would soon become an arena of immense significance and complexity for the entirety of the continent. At the time, they weren’t quite ready for a national scale of operation, so the ensuing company that was established was initially named Energy Storage Ontario. The company focused much of its efforts on educating key decision-makers in Ontario about its accumulating value and the role it would play as energy demands increased. Educating soon turned to collaboration, and by 2016, Energy Storage Ontario had grown to the national scale, where it officially became Energy Storage Canada, and the pilot projects and demonstrations it once theorized with officials have now become a consistent reality for the company. A Key Influencer of the Region Despite playing on the national level, Energy Storage Canada still firmly honors its roots. Recently, after informing government officials about the advantages of large utility-scale procurements, Ontario has announced a 2.5-gigawatt energy storage procurement. It is currently the largest procurement in Canada and one of the largest in North America. So, it’s very clear that while Energy Storage Canada has plans to develop sustainable energy throughout its nation and eventually the world, it is still making sure that the local region it first found success in is taken care of. However, because of its rapid growth, the company has been able to adopt a very open- minded philosophy when it comes to the types of technologies it’s willing to research and invest in. Chief Mark Hill of Six Nations of the Grand River, providing the opening Keynote Address as part of Energy Storage Canada’s 2023 Conference.