OPG and Gull Bay First Nation to Develop Renewable Energy Microgrid
Mar 26, 2018
Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek / Gull Bay First Nation and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) are co-developing a microgrid that will use solar, battery storage and grid technology to help reduce diesel use at KZA. Gull Bay First Nation is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) band located 175 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ontario on the western shore of Lake Nipigon.
The microgrid will integrate renewable solar generation, battery storage and micro grid control technology with diesel generators that currently supply the community’s entire energy needs. This project will reduce diesel use by 110,000 litres each year, the equivalent of 340 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided annually.
OPG will manage the contractors and oversee the development, design, procurement, regulatory processes, construction, integration, and commissioning of the microgrid.
Construction is expected to start this spring and finish by the end of the year. Once operational, KZA will own and operate the microgrid.
“The Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek solar microgrid project reflects our peoples’ connection with the Land, and our responsibility as Caretakers on behalf of all living things for Seven Generations,” says Chief Wilfred N. King. “The microgrid project is a game-changer as Canada’s first fully-integrated solar energy-storage system in a remote community.”
OPG has a track record in developing and maintaining working relationships with Indigenous communities in Ontario that create economic opportunities, training and jobs. Past partnerships include Lac Seul First Nation to build the Lac Seul Generating Station (GS) in northwest Ontario, Taykwa Tagamou Nation to build the Peter Sutherland Senior GS on New Post Creek in northeast Ontario, and Moose Cree First Nation on the $2.8 billion Lower Mattagami River Project. OPG currently working with the Six Nations of the Grand River on developing a solar power facility on its former Nanticoke GS site on Lake Erie. This microgrid project is OPG’s fifth development project with an Indigenous community.
Image: Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek – Gull Bay First Nation
