Latest news with #TomLumsden
Edmonton Journal
11-07-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Battery-powered homes support Blatchford's virtual power plant
It's a Canadian first. Article content Edmonton's Blatchford neighbourhood, the former municipal airport site being transformed by the city into a sustainable residential community for urban living, is now home to this country's first energy storage-based virtual power plant. Article content On pace to integrate 100 net zero houses — the project is just in its early stages at a 10 per cent VPP build out, expected to reach 25 per cent growth by the end of this year — the VPP should enhance renewable energy adoption even further in Blatchford and also deliver savings to homeowners, officials said. Article content 'Blatchford is a unique proof of concept for innovations in sustainable urban living and renewable energy — so it's really fitting that this first-of-its-kind integrated VPP is launching right here with one of our homebuilders (Landmark Homes),' said Tom Lumsden, Blatchford's development manager in regards to the VPP launch in late June. 'By combining green-built, highly energy-efficient homes, a fully renewable District Energy Utility and a neighbourhood designed to encourage a vehicle-free lifestyle, Blatchford is emerging as a hub for planet-friendly land development, construction, and technologies.' Article content Article content Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions View All 2 Photos 1 of 2 Article content A 'Landmark' Moment Article content Article content A joint venture between Landmark Homes, the City of Edmonton, EPCOR, Emissions Reduction Alberta, Solartility, sonnen and the University of Alberta, the VPP will aggregate the power from the individual sonnen batteries and then be able to dispatch them to a larger asset. Article content 'Instead of throwing a pebble in the ocean, we're dropping a boulder into a lake and we can really create ripples,' said Geoff Ferrell, senior vice-president, Global C&I and VPP Project Business, sonnen USA, noting you could describe a VPP as a distributed energy management system. Article content The batteries, included at no cost in the purchase of a Landmark net-zero home in Blatchford and likely installed in the utility room, are long-lasting and should have a life span of at least 10, if not 20 years, said sonnen. They use advanced Lithium Iron Phosphate technology, and sonnen said this offers enhanced safety and longevity compared to lithium-ion batteries. Article content Article content While the 100 batteries in the Landmark Homes aren't enough to save the grid on its own — it will represent nearly half a megawatt of power and more than two megawatt hours of storage capacity to support the energy grid — Tallas said you have to start somewhere and this is a good start. Article content And a start it is. While this Edmonton project will likely take to mid-2027 to complete and fully ramp up this first VPP and its 100 batteries, sonnen plans to launch further VPPs throughout Alberta — sonnen said it believes Calgary would be a good future choice — and other Canadian regions, providing more than 18 MW of energy and 60 megawatt hours of grid support over the next three years.
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Construction going full steam ahead in Blatchford: city
Progress is being made on construction in Blatchford, Edmonton's renewable energy-powered neighbourhood. CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg reports. Despite construction delays, Edmonton's renewable energy-powered neighbourhood is trucking along on the site of the former city centre airport. Tom Lumsden, the development manager for the Blatchford Redevelopment Project, said the community is receiving a lot of interest. 'The talk has been that it's not going as fast as people think it should be going, but there's people living here,' Lumsden told CTV News Edmonton Wednesday. 'We have 300 homes either constructed or under construction (with) another 200-ish coming on right away.' Blatchford Once completed, Blatchford will be home to up to 30,000 Edmontonians. (CTV News Edmonton) Today, most of the homes in Blatchford are townhouses, but apartment buildings and condos will be added to the development along with retail spaces. Mixed-use buildings known as the 'Blatchford Market' will be built near the new NAIT LRT stop while the main floor of the decommissioned airport control tower will be turned into a public space. Blatchford The former air traffic control tower is seen in Blatchford on July 9, 2027. (CTV News Edmonton) Emily Taylor moved into Blatchford about a year ago. 'I didn't know what exactly to expect when I moved here, obviously it's still growing,' said Taylor. 'Even in the year I've been here, there's been a huge number of new developments that have gone up. 'It's a really nice community.' Taylor said the quiet neighbourhood is designed for walking and biking – which is perfect as the LRT station is close by. 'It's just really convenient,' said Taylor. There are communal gardens and playgrounds in the community as well as walking and cycling trails. Blatchford A community garden is seen in Blatchford on July 9, 2025. (CTV News Edmonton) City council approved a business case to transform the decommissioned Edmonton Municipal Airport into an urban infill community in 2014. Once completed, Blatchford will be home to up to 30,000 Edmontonians. The community uses 100 per cent renewable energy and is carbon-neutral. But there's still plenty of construction to do until the development is fully realized – the projected date of completion is sometime in 2042. 'We still think we can achieve that,' said Lumsden. 'Things are working the way we think they should.'
