Canadian Startup Partners with Medicine Hat to Revolutionize Electricity Grid

As cities across Canada look for ways to make their grids more sustainable and resilient they are turning to new technologies. Medicine Hat is one such city and they have launched a pilot program with Aqua-Cell Energy to install their new saltwater batteries for storage use in the energy grid; the program is set to begin in 2026. This technology will allow the city to better meet demand at peak hours by stretching out the burden, but how does this differ from other battery technologies?

Saltwater batteries have many advantages when compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, for example, lithium batteries can catch fire, whereas saltwater batteries are non-flammable. The resources required to make saltwater batteries are also significantly more abundant, saltwater rather than lithium and cobalt, and to double the duration of a saltwater battery, you simply need to double the amount of saltwater, which is much cheaper. This also has the added benefit of making them easier to recycle. One more strength is that the expected lifetime is 20 years compared to 15 for lithium. So, considering all these amazing advantages, why are lithium batteries used instead? Firstly, the economies of scale aren’t there yet, making them a lot more expensive, and secondly, they are a lot less energy-dense, meaning you need a larger battery size to get the same amount of output.

Aqua-Cell Energy is aiming to install large shipping container-sized saltwater batteries throughout the electricity grid so they can store electricity during off-peak hours and then help support the grid demand during peak hours. By operating on such a large scale, they are also counteracting one of the main issues with saltwater batteries, the size. When working on a citywide scale the batteries needing to be large becomes a much smaller issue.

At Borrum Energy Solutions we are always excited to see new renewable innovations that bring us closer to a sustainable future. To see how you can be a part of that future check out our Anorra turbines here.