May 20, 2025
“I cannot support Evolugen,” Ottawa area MPP Karen McCrimmon told a local online newspaper in a wide-ranging interview that included questions about a proposed battery energy storage system or BESS.
The proposal has met with strong opposition from residents of the rural ward in Ottawa, while urban citizens and some “environmental” groups support it. The city gave support to one proposal but not the other. One is located on industrial land while the other project would be on agricultural land near a small country village. Citizens are concerned about lithium batteries and the potential for fire, as well as noise and light pollution. They also think the farmland should not be taken out of circulation for a battery project.
The IESO gave contracts to both, and now it is up to Evolugen to generate support.
While MPP McCrimmon says she has no problems with the idea of battery storage or the technology, she believes the siting process and the community engagement in the West Carleton area of the City of Ottawa is lacking.
“They [Evolugen] have not done any of these projects correctly,” she told West Carleton Online publisher Jake Davies. “…and the Ontario government kind of gave them a bye. You go find a place to put it, and we’ll approve it. It’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
IESO process ignores citizens
McCrimmon was critical of the siting process, saying citizen concerns were being ignored and that the approval process doesn’t really have room for citizen views. Worse, power developers like Evolugen (Brookfield) do only the minimum to hear and address concerns.
Calls for a “town hall” format of public meeting were dismissed, even after a request came from the local city councillor. Instead, Evolugen is buying hundreds of dollars worth of social media ads, including multiple daily placements on Facebook.
“(Evolugen) has not been forthcoming with people,” McCrimmon told West Carleton Online, and they have not actually tried to really, honestly, engage with people. Until they’re kind of beaten about the head and shoulders, then they finally will. But by that time, they’ve created so much bad feelings, that people don’t hear them anymore. We need something, not against the technology, but you have to go out and consult with people. You have to be able to listen, and you have to be able to actually give people the confidence they need to in order to support it, and they have not done that.”
Same as the wind power folks
(Oh wait: they are the wind power companies.)
As followers of this page will know, this is exactly the modus operandi of wind power developers in Ontario, and their behaviour is fully sanctioned by the Independent Electricity System Operator of Ontario or IESO. Requirements are a single public meeting for the proposal, which must be announced on the project website, and to residents within 2 km of the project area.
With more wind power proposals coming—in fact four have already appeared, in Kerns and Hudson Townships, and in SW Oxford County and Malahide Township—we would hope that the process for engaging residents and actually acting on concerns would be better.
But it remains essentially unchanged since the days of Dalton McGuinty and the Green Energy Act, with the exception of requiring a Municipal Support Resolution or MSR.
Interesting that now, a member of the Liberal Party of Ontario can see the inequities.
contact@windconcernsontario.ca