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Lithium battery pilot planned for Fort Simpson is scrapped
## An energy management pilot previously planned for Fort Simpson is no longer moving forward, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation says.
The system would have hooked up large lithium batteries to the community’s existing diesel generators to charge those batteries throughout the day, allowing Fort Simpson to be essentially battery-powered at night.
Nahendeh MLA and Speaker of the House Shane Thompson previously said the project – run by Toronto-based company CleanDesign – could help Fort Simpson’s power plant run more efficiently.
The company’s CEO, Mark Lerohl, previously told Cabin Radio the systems could save five to 20 percent of the energy the village consumes, depending on how they are used.
In an email to Cabin Radio, NTPC spokesperson Doug Prendergast said the project was abandoned in June after it was decided by the company and CleanDesign that “the timing was not right to test this technology in Fort Simpson.”
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Prendergast said the project required additional design work, the purchase of new equipment and on-site earthworks before it could be installed, resulting in additional costs.
“The plant in Fort Simpson is an older design. All new NTPC power plants are designed for easier hookup of renewables and external generators in the event of an emergency,” said Prendergast.
“This design approach eliminates much of the required hook-up costs that would have been required for the pilot project.”
Speaking at a town hall on energy affordability on Wednesday, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins said that if the pilot project in Fort Simpson was successful, it could have been expanded to other communities, such as Yellowknife, to help with power reliability.
The federal government this week announced tens of millions of dollars in funding to pursue a different energy solution in Fort Simpson – a new LNG plant.
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