Letter: Evolugen talks Feb. 23 open house format

To the Editor,

Evolugen looks forward to hosting our next community engagement and consultation event on Sunday, Feb. 23 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at West Carleton Secondary School (3088 Dunrobin Rd).

We believe this will be a great opportunity for our team to share information about our South March Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project, and for local residents to share feedback that will continue to shape our project design.  

Through our many conversations with neighbours and stakeholder groups over the past several months, we’ve been happy to be part of the ongoing discussion about how to best meet West Carleton’s rapidly growing energy demand and improve rural power grid reliability. As readers of the West Carleton Online Letters to the Editor page will know, there’s been a diversity of responses, from enthusiastic, to concerned, and open-minded. Most of all, from residents who are eager to learn more about BESS technology and our project to inform their perspectives. 

Anticipating that well more than 100 residents plan to attend, we are committed to ensuring that every question is addressed, and every opinion is recorded. We also appreciate our neighbours have busy lives, and want to make sure this event is convenient for your schedule.  

To that end, we’re hosting an open house ‘drop-in’ format, including two dozen members from our team, technical consultants, and local development partners set up with briefing materials and infographics on hand. We recognize our neighbours have many detailed technical questions about our project, and we believe this is the best format to facilitate detailed discussions with our subject matter experts.  

We’re excited to share with you our plans to completely eliminate noise and light pollution, adopting the latest innovations in BESS fire safety, our emergency response preparations, solicit your thoughts on priorities for the $5 million Community Development Fund (CDF) to best support local initiatives, and hear about anything else that might be on your mind.  

We’re also serving lunch and setting up children’s activities to show our appreciation for your time. The event on Feb 23 is just one of many engagements we have planned over the coming months in a variety of formats. If you can’t make it but would like to connect in the meantime, please visit us at www.GetChargedOttawa.ca/contact or send an email to info@getchargedottawa.ca and we’ll get back to you right away.  

Best,  
Geoff Wright 
SVP Head of Development
Evolugen.