Irrican eBAR storage facility  now on the grid

Westwind Weekly News Photo Submitted. CELEBRATIONS: (Left to right) Trevor Helwig, Engineering and Technical Services Manager, SMRID, John McKee Chairman, Raymond Irrigation District Board of Directors, Cory Nelson, Chairman SMRID Board of Directors were at the ribbon cutting ceremony on June 25

By Cal Braid
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On June 17, renewable energy producer Irrican Power Ltd. announced the commissioning of its Raymond enhanced Battery and Renewables (eBAR) Project.

  Irrican is a collaboration between the St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) and Raymond Irrigation District (RID), and the new eBAR facility shares a site with the Raymond Irrican Hydropower Plant, approximately six kilometres south of the Town of Raymond.

  According to an SMRID news release, the new facility consists of 15.4MW / 30.8MWh of lithium-ion battery storage systems. “(It) has the ability to both charge from the Irrican Raymond Hydropower plant or from the Alberta grid opportunistically to optimize revenue for the facility,” the release said.

  Irrican launched the eBAR project in early 2022 and construction began in September of 2024. Commercial operations commenced in May of 2025, just prior to the start of this year’s irrigation season.

  “The project will allow Irrican to generate additional revenue through the Province’s ancillary services and energy-only markets…and will be utilized to support the Alberta Electric System Operator’s (AESO) increasing demands for grid reliability services,” the release said.

  SMRID GM and Irrican President David Westwood said, “I am thrilled for this Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to come online. The BESS project will allow Irrican to store electricity from the grid and renewable hydroelectric and release it back to the grid as energy is needed.”

  He said the project will create an additional revenue stream for Irrican’s ongoing investments into the network of irrigation infrastructure within the districts.

  Irrican Power Ltd. was formed in 1992 under a different name to develop hydropower projects on the existing irrigation infrastructure in southern Alberta. It owns three hydroelectric facilities and four solar sites.

  Irrican’s hydropower stations are located at several sites along St. Mary main canal and benefit 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, the release said.

  A ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 25 marked the first season of operations for Irrican’s latest investment in green energy and sustainability.