Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Angus. I note and appreciate that California has been a great leader in this. Their storage resources are backed up by extensive thermal resources, which represent 45% of the grid's capacity and have been essential to ensure—but not always—the reliability of the California grid.

Natural Resources committee  Yes. In the LT1 procurement from the IESO results released on May 9, the 10 energy storage projects came in at an average cost of $672, and the average cost for the 411 megawatts of gas was $1,681, so we are just below 40% of the new bids that were put forward. Again, that is obviously a limited context, and I don't want to over-extrapolate from that, but from the last competitive tender in Canada, we were the cheapest new resource.

Natural Resources committee  If I could go next, I would like to distinguish between a carbon price for household consumers, which I don't believe in any meaningful way directs them towards decarbonization, versus a carbon price for large industrials and system operators, who do have extensive planning and long-term investment views and can properly make decisions that contribute to long-term diversification.

Natural Resources committee  There are two points here. We are the cheapest new capacity. I would stress that we are not cheaper than existing capacity assets, but yes, we are the new cheapest, if you'd like to build any new additional capacity. As far as other jurisdictions are concerned, Texas is the leading one and California is second.

Natural Resources committee  That's accurate. I would like to point out two things. Historically, we've had either generation assets or loads for consumers. Energy storage as a bidirectional resource can do both and needs regulatory reforms. I'd like to recognize Ontario and most recently the Province of Alberta, which, under Minister Neudorf, recognized energy storage resources as a distinct resource class.

Natural Resources committee  From the federal government?

Natural Resources committee  From the federal government, I would suggest that for large infrastructure projects—for example, the long-duration energy storage—one way to maximize bids and competitive pressures would be to allow a stipend for qualified bidders who put forward a viable project but aren't successful.

Natural Resources committee  We could take a straightforward storage project from go: It would take about two years to complete reliably and comfortably. That's the current quantum. The largest project right now in Ontario is a contract for 400 megawatts. At that point, we have a bit more flexibility compared to some of the other speakers in terms of location.

Natural Resources committee  I think we want to be clear as well that when we talk about new capacity right now, storage is the cheapest, at $682 a megawatt business day, but that's not cheaper than an existing asset that's already built and paid for. Certainly, we're not going to get the economies of an asset that's been fully capitalized.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. No problem. The first number is 24%. The cost per megawatt business day from last year's procurements to this year's decreased by 24%. They're 24% cheaper. The second figure is 40%. The 1,782 megawatts of clean energy storage procured came in at $672 per megawatt business day.

Natural Resources committee  If we could speak to Ontario in particular, right now we have 10.5 gigawatts of gas. We've contracted for three gigawatts of storage. To increase that, we'd need about another eight. You might want to say ten, just for additional comfort, so about 10 gigawatts. That's about threefold what we've contracted.

Natural Resources committee  Good afternoon. Thank you, members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Alex Simakov. I'm the director of external affairs for Energy Storage Canada. We are the national voice of the energy storage and smart grid technology sectors, representing 97 members from across the country, a number that has roughly doubled in the past four years.