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Just weeks after turning on the biggest battery energy storage facility in Canada, the economic development arm of the Six Nations of the Grand River announced it closed $700 million in financing for two more such projects with Aypa Power.
Named Elora and Hedley, the Ontario-based facilities are being developed in Centre Wellington Township and Haldimand County, respectively. Centre Wellington Township is north of Kitchener; Haldimand County sits south of Hamilton.
The projects have a combined installed capacity of 422 megawatts (MW) or 1,688 megawatt-hours (mW-h), split equally at 211 MW each. Commercial operations for both are scheduled to start mid-2027.
"Ontario has long been a core market for Aypa, and we are pleased to advance the Elora and Hedley projects alongside Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation to support the long-term resilience of the province's power system,” Moe Hajabed, the CEO of Toronto- and Austin, Tex.-based Aypa, said in the announcement.
Aypa, a Blackstone portfolio company, is an owner, developer and operator of utility-scale energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects in North America. The company has 42 projects in operation or under construction, it said, with a development pipeline of over 22 gigawatts (GW).
Sustainable Biz Canada has reached out to the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) and Aypa for comment, but did not receive a reply by time of publishing.
Projects add to Ontario’s grid capacity
Contracts for Elora and Hedley were awarded in 2025 under the Independent Electricity System Operator's Long-Term 1 competitive procurement. Launched in 2023, it led to almost 2,200 MW of planned capacity in Ontario’s grid which are expected to come into service between 2026 and 2028. The procurement is made up of 1,784 MW of energy storage facilities and 410 MW of natural gas and biogas electricity generation.
The province is prioritizing energy storage infrastructure because of ever-rising electricity demand and increased renewable energy generation, the IESO told Sustainable Biz Canada last year.
In February, the Hagersville Battery Energy Storage Park located southwest of Hamilton came online. The 300 MW, or 1,200 mW-h, facility is operated in an equal partnership between Boralex and the SNGRDC.
The SNGRDC was founded to support the economic independence of the First Nations community. Headquartered in Ohsweken, southeast of Brantford, renewable energy is one of its priorities. Its portfolio currently stands at over 2.5 GW of capacity in five battery energy storage, seven solar and 14 wind projects.
Elora and Hedley “reflect our commitment to investing in infrastructure that delivers long-term economic value for our community while contributing to the reliability and sustainability of Ontario's electricity system," Matt Jamieson, president and CEO of the SNGRDC, said in the financing announcement of the two projects.
Other battery energy storage projects operating in Ontario include Northland Power Inc.’s 250 MW Oneida Energy Storage Project in Jarvis and the 120 MW York Battery Energy Storage System in the Township of King.
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