Alberta Startup to test saltwater battery on the electrical grid of medicine hat

An Edmonton-based startup is getting its first chance to test battery technology, the City of Medicine HOPS will provide an option for expensive electrical grid upgrades.

Aqua-cell Energy Energy Flow Battery – Size of a shipping container – will be launched as one of the winners starting in 2026 in the city of South -East Alberta. A medical cap innovation competition,

The company’s CEO Keith Cleland said that grid batteries are like a vehicle components in which they can either optimize power generation or run the length of time.

“If you want a more powerful engine, you will find a large engine – or in this case, a large battery stack,” Cleland told CBC News.

“If you want to store energy for a long time, you get a large gas tank – or in our case, large saltwater tanks.”

Cleland, who was born in Calgary and grew up, began researching saltwater battery technology during his graduation at Waterloo University.

He focused on a master’s degree, which he started in the same school in 2019 and participated with his now Chief Technical Officer Elsworth Bell. Create Aqua-cell Energy through Wallu’s Startup Incubator Vault,

After returning to Alberta, Cleland participated Northern alberta institute of technology Improving and testing his research.

Now that she is ready to see if the battery can work on a large scale, Cleland hopes that she can help make Alberta’s energy a part of the future.

“This is traditionally an energy-focused province, so it is great that we can bring clean energy technology that can help strengthen our electric grid,” he said.

‘Win-win’

City of Medicine Hat launched its energy innovation challenge with the goal of supporting clean energy infection and alberta’s energy economy.

The $ 2.4 million schedule helps fund 50 percent of six pilot projects in three years, with the support of the priority economic growth Canada, city, decentralized energy Canada, emissions reduction in Alberta and various other parties.

Medicine hat is the only city in Canada which owns its own energy production and distribution-a so-called micro-grid separated from Alberta’s large provincial power grid.

Raymond Chokelal, a senior electrical engineer of the city, said the area conducts the correct test for the saltwater battery pilot of Aqua-cell.

“We wanted to see how it would do it with cold, with warm, and how to tie in our grid, possibly the opportunity to apply it,” Choklal said.

“We can deploy it around the city at various places to help us with grid congestion.”

Battery can help solve problems

Medicine Hat’s Energy Business Unit is facing financial headwinds, which is not expected to be easier.

Due to lack of old natural gas wells, its gas production division is no longer profitable and the cost of restoring turbulent land is that before it was drilled, known as reclaimation.

While the power generation business of the city is still profitable, it is not immune to the fall in Alberta electricity prices that was after record-disturbances in 2023.

One of the most pressurized concerns of medicine hat is the infrastructure. To maintain the existing assets, an estimated $ 500 million will be required in the next decade, not to refer to further expansion.

Energy authorities hope that solutions such as saltwater batteries of Aqua-cell can help keep the cost low for the city and its inhabitants.

Chokelal said, “The idea of ​​the battery is to remove the need to upgrade our distribution and transmission system to adjust the additional load. This is an upgradation of a non-stars.”

They called it “win-win”, which can allow both Aqua-cells to prove that it can be on a scale and the city may be a way to save money.

Officials told CBC News that the Aqua-cell pilot battery would be added to the power grid of Medicine Hat at the beginning of 2026.

Future reconsideration

Anauk Kendall, Chairman Decentralized Energy CanadaSaid that supporting entrepreneurs like Cleland and Elsworth is important to create more flexibility with Canada’s energy grid.

Kendal said, “We have only Brooks Ole Storm, which has taken out a large health of the infrastructure, these are real things that everyone in every community needs to understand,” Kendall said.

“They are going to be worse, they are going to be more regular, and if you cannot integrate your energy systems in the environment created, you are more weak.”

According to Cleland, the saltwater battery of the Aqua-cell, the renewable energy infection of the medicine hat may be well aligned with the goals.

“The Gas City” – the official slogan for a municipality, which has been dependent on oil and gas wells for its energy needs for more than a century – is considering what can be the largest solar farm of Canada on the whole scale.

It is also discovering carbon capture technologies and other forms of renewable energy, city officials say that financial stability and federal rules are required to ensure compliance.

“The battery allows you to that consistent solar energy, so you do not get any ups and downs in the energy supply,” Cleland said.

“And eventually, this should be the result of low cost for electricity users.”