The city could be on the hook for $4.6 million if it lands a bigger federal fish.
A grant application to CleanBC — to add a battery energy storage system (BESS) to the Nelson Hydro Grid — requires the city to fund its share of the project if the grant application is successful.
The city’s share of the project would be $4.6 million and would be drawn from the Nelson Hydro capital reserve — reallocating forecasted costs from projects that will be deferred or displaced by the BESS project.
Based on a recommendation of Prism Engineering, the BESS project arose when a peak load management study for Nelson Hydro was conducted, providing an estimated installed cost of $9 million plus engineering and lands costs for a BESS with five megawatt capacity and four-hour duration based on historical pricing, noted Nelson Hydro general manager Scott Spencer.
“The ‘Class B’ cost…
New energy storage system has city put chips on the table
