Irrican owns multiple hydroelectric facilities and solar sites
A new battery storage facility is helping power two southern Alberta irrigation districts.
Irrican Power, a renewable energy producer, comprised of the St. Mary River Irrigation District and Raymond Irrigation District, has announced the commissioning of the Raymond Enhanced Battery and Renewables Project.
The eBAR facility is located at the Raymond Irrican Hydropower Plant near Raymond.
The new facility consists of 15.4MW/30.8MWh of lithium-ion battery storage systems, which have the ability to both charge from the Irrican Raymond Hydropower plant or from the Alberta grid to optimize revenue.
The eBAR project was initiated in early 2022, started construction in September 2024 and began commercial operations last month, just before the start of the irrigation season.
“The project will create an additional revenue stream for Irrican to continue to support the network of irrigation infrastructure within the SMRID and RID using green energy. The project will allow Irrican to store electricity from the grid and renewable hydroelectric and release it back to the grid as energy is needed,” David Westwood, SMRID general manager and Irrican Power president, said in a news release.
“This asset is an investment in Alberta’s agriculture industry and aligns with SMRID and Irrican’s commitment to support sustainable communities, environment and agriculture with water.”
The project will allow Irrican to generate additional revenue through the province’s ancillary services and energy-only markets, as well as help to manage grid curtailments. The facility will be used to support the Alberta Electric System Operator’s increasing demands for grid reliability services.
Irrican Power (formerly the Irrigation Canal Power Cooperative.) was formed in 1992 to develop hydropower projects on the existing irrigation infrastructure in southern Alberta. Irrican owns three hydroelectric facilities and four solar sites.
Irrican’s hydropower stations are located at several sites along SMRID’s main canal, benefiting both the SMRID and the RID.
When all the hydro plants are operating at full capacity, Irrican produces 36 MW of eco-logo certified green power, which is enough to power 27,000 homes.
For Irrican’s new battery energy storage system, URICA will act as the 24/7 dispatch agent. Through a separate URICA entity, it will also be the provider of commercial optimization services.