Energy Storage Canada Honours Six Leaders Advancing Energy Storage in Canada

Energy Storage Canada (ESC) recognized the contributions of six outstanding leaders and innovators on the evening of September 25 at the fourth annual Energy Storage Canada Awards. Presented during the evening reception at ESC's 10thannual conference in Toronto, the recipients were celebrated for their contributions to the industry as part of advancing energy storage deployment and technology as an essential cornerstone of Canada's future energy.

The first award selected by ESC's Board of Directors, the 2025 Energy Storage Trailblazer Award, was presented to Barbara Ellard, Director of Resource System Adequacy, at Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). The award recognizes individuals whose leadership exceeds organizational mandates to shape the sector at large. Barbara's leadership and vision related to the early integration of long duration energy storage (LDES) have been instrumental in the deployment of Ontario's first procurement for LDES assets, one of the first procurements of its kind worldwide.

The 2025 Friend of Energy Storage Award, the second board-selected award, was presented to the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB). The award honours an individual or organization outside of the storage industry that has demonstrated staunch support for the sector or played a critical role in enabling its growth. The CIB was recognized for its financial leadership, enabling transformative energy storage projects in several locations across Canada, affirming their bankability and scalability, to accelerate storage deployment nationwide to the benefit of all Canadians.

Reflecting on the evening, Justin Rangooni, Executive Director of Energy Storage Canada, noted: "The 2025 Energy Storage Canada Award recipients showcase the innovation, leadership, and collaboration driving storage to the heart of Canada's clean energy transition. Our recently published Energy Storage Market Outlook projects as much as 37 gigawatts (GWs) of long and short duration will be needed to meet Canada's energy demand between now and 2050. We're excited to continue highlighting the incredible projects that are leading the way."

The 2025 Foundational Research in Energy Storage Award, a new category introduced this year, was presented to JL Richards & Associates. The firm was recognized for their study of the integration of Photovoltaic (PV) systems and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) alone and together, in a residential context. Finding no singular guidelines or standard for residential use, in combination with software and modelling gaps, the report provides a clear framework and use cases for PV & BESS systems in the residential context, providing a centralized resource of reliable information for policymakers, regulators, and developers in the field.

The 2025 Grid Management Storage Award, also introduced this year, went to BluWave-ai. Their EV Everywhere project with Hydro Ottawa combines AI with real-time data from the grid, EVs, and batteries to identify the best time to charge or pause charging, relative to considerations such as energy cost, emissions, and grid stress. Their project demonstrates the potential for advanced intelligence to modernize our electricity grids and to unlock the full potential of the storage assets at our disposal.

The 2025 Landmark Application of Energy Storage Award was awarded to Enwave Energy Corporation for their recent project as part of The Well – a mixed-use community in Toronto's King West Neighbourhood. As part of this community development Enwave pioneered an 8-million litre Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank located six levels underground and stores chilled or heated water produced using off-peak electricity and discharges it during electricity system peaks to efficiently heat and cool buildings while reducing demand on the electricity grid. The project exemplifies how creative engineering, and partnerships can push the boundaries of storage applications in Canada.

Finally, the 2025 Energy Storage Milestone Award was presented to Oneida Energy Storage LP. The Oneida project, a 250 MW/1,000 MWh battery facility now operating in Ontario, is currently the largest of its kind in Canada. At the time of submission, the facility was already delivering its full 1000 MWh capacity during peak demand on some of the hottest days, making it a major milestone for the industry in demonstrating the transformative contributions of large-scale storage projects for Canadian electricity grids.

Launched in 2022 as part of ESC's national annual conference, the Energy Storage Canada Awards celebrate leadership, ingenuity, and impact of the industry as storage scales up to play a central role in Canada's Net Zero future. The call for nominations for the 2026 Energy Storage Canada Awards will open in Spring 2026

Energy Storage Canada | https://www.energystoragecanada.org/