A “particularly strong” market for energy storage in Alberta has led to Calgary-based Westbridge Renewable Energy Corp. (WEB-X) developing five battery projects totalling 539 megawatt-hours of capacity.

The batteries, to be sited in central and northern Alberta, will power the Alberta grid with excess energy stored for “additional power at peak demand,” Westbridge executive chairman Scott Kelly said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

The capacity is equivalent to powering approximately 100,000 homes, a Westbridge spokesperson said in an email exchange.

Upon development, the company will have the choice to own and operate the systems to sell electricity back to the grid at peak times, or monetize and sell them.

While he would not disclose the total cost of the five projects, Kelly said they would complement Westbridge's existing solar and battery, and battery-only projects in Alberta.

Westbridge has a 9.5-gigawatt (GW) project pipeline of solar and battery projects and has completed 3.5 GW of projects. Of its pipeline, battery energy storage system (BESS) projects made up around 70 per cent, with 3.4 GW being standalone BESS, including the five Alberta projects.

The clean energy infrastructure developer views Alberta as a place for growth despite the barriers to renewable energy generation put in place by the province’s government. A free energy market and demand for electricity are driving its business, despite the undercurrent of resistance, Kelly said.

Westbridge's battery plans

The five two-hour energy storage projects in development are:

• the Lodgepole and Silverberry, two 200 megawatt-hour (mW-h) projects;
• the 90 mW-h Heritage Trail;
• Horizon Line, a 33.6 mW-h project; and
• the 15.2 mW-h Swift Fox.

The targeted ready-to-build dates are approximately Q2 or Q3 2026.

Once the company has progressed with permitting and licensing for the five BESS sites – a process that takes one to two years, according to Kelly – it will move to de-risking, then the building stage and finding offtake partners.

Over 60 per cent of Alberta’s electricity is generated by natural gas, though the proportion from renewable energy has been increasing. While Westbridge cannot ensure its battery projects are being charged by low- or zero-carbon energy, Kelly said the key benefit is providing reliability to Alberta’s grid.

Alberta’s electricity supply was stabilized with batteries on a very cold night in January 2023, with industry observers citing the incident as an example of their value.

An overview of operational BESS in Alberta as of 2024 by EnergyRates.ca puts total storage capacity at 340 mW-h. Thousands of megawatts of new capacity are proposed for Alberta, CBC News reports.

Of Westbridge’s completed projects, the Georgetown project in Vulcan County consists of 278 megawatts (MW) of DC solar and 200 mW-h of batteries; the Sunnynook project, also 200 mW-h of batteries, is paired with 332 MW of DC solar.

Westbridge also has four Alberta battery and solar projects in the development stage:

• Dolcy, 375 MW of DC solar plus a 200 mW-h BESS in the Municipal District of Wainwright;
• Eastervale, 345 MW of DC solar and a 400 mW-h BESS in the Municipal District of Provost;
• Red Willow, 290 MW of DC solar combined with a 200 mW-h BESS in Stettler County; and
• Normandeau, a 325 MW of DC solar project paired with a 200 mW-h BESS in Lac La Biche County.

Alberta’s strong battery potential

Founded to develop and advance utility-scale solar and battery projects in Alberta, Westbridge is finding strong opportunities from higher demand for electricity, Kelly explained. There is greater need for clean energy as the population rises, electrification such as electric vehicle adoption takes place, and more energy-intensive data centres are built.

Though the Alberta government put up more obstacles to Westbridge’s sector by barring renewable energy development from certain areas and types of agricultural land, the company’s CEO said Westbridge is pro-Alberta. Its deregulated energy market makes it “one of the only great markets for energy developers and renewable energy developers in Canada.”

The province’s government wants grid stability and renewables will play “a big part in that,” Kelly added.

Westbridge is also optimistic even as U.S. President Donald Trump puts a chill on the global clean energy sector.

“Our overall feeling is that it doesn’t matter who’s in power,” in the U.S., Kelly said. “The demand for more energy in both Canada and U.S. is real.” If there is a viable way to provide more power, he continued, governments will be motivated to add generation regardless of the source.

Westbridge’s originations team is seeking more projects, with “several” large-scale projects in the mid- to late-stage of development. By 2025, Kelly hopes to have one or two more of those projects permitted and licensed.