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Ottawa Citizen

Dunrobin resident finds prior 'misconduct' by engineer on new battery project

An engineer who presented safety data about battery energy storage systems to the city's Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee last week had his registration with a professional body yanked in February after he 'admitted that he demonstrated professional misconduct.' Article content Stephen Ramsay, an engineer with a PhD from Cambridge University, spoke to the committee on June 5. He was one of 60-plus speakers with a five-minute time slot to address a controversial proposal to build a six-hectare battery energy storage system (BESS) facility on Marchurst Road near Dunrobin. Article content Article content Article content Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., through Evolugen, a Canadian company, was seeking a Municipal Support Resolution (MSR), an instrument introduced by the provincial government to gauge a municipality's interest in building new energy projects. Article content Article content BESSes are needed as Ontario grapples with increased demand for energy, say proponents of the $650 million project. But one of the most contentious issues around BESSes, which use lithium-ion batteries to store electricity during off-peak periods in order to release it during peak demand periods, is the possibility of fire. Article content Ramsay told the committee he was speaking on the scope of the work that was done by Calvin Consulting in support of the Evolugen application. Article content 'We were responsible for modelling the consequences of potential fires from the BESS facility and the consequences in terms of the emission of hazardous gasses, particularly focusing on hydrogen fluoride,' said Ramsay. Article content Article content BESS Systems have transitioned to ones that use the LFP chemistry, which is used in the current application, he said. (LFP batteries are also known as lithium iron phosphate batteries.) Article content Article content 'This is a process which has occurred over many years during which we have been actively involved in this aspect of BESS projects,' Ramsay told the committee. 'The motivation for this, of course, was to try to improve the safety by reducing the incidences of thermal runaway and the consequences resulting from fires.' Article content In response to questions from Orléans East-Cumberland Ward Coun. Matt Luloff asking him to simplify his comments, Ramsay responded: 'Basically what we're saying is that as we've changed from the old chemistry, which seemed to be essentially inherently dangerous, to the one which is LFP, which we are beginning to see is much, much safer.'