Energy projects are temporarily prohibited in The Nation Municipality.

Council adopted an Interim Control Bylaw on February 12, which forbids the construction of any wind, solar, and battery storage facilities in the municipality for 12 months.

The adoption of the bylaw follows decisions and discussions which have taken place since September 25, 2023. At that time, council adopted a resolution recommending The Nation Planning Department proceed with hiring WSP Consultants to establish a memorandum on how to regulate the establishment of future large scale renewable energy facilities. On December 1, 2023, the Planning Department received a report from WSP, reviewing the policies of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) Official Plan 2022 and explaining options for regulating the establishment of renewable energy structures. On January 15, 2024, the Planning Department presented the draft report on renewable energy structures to council. The Planning Department had also prepared a draft interim by-law to prohibit renewable energy structures until the adoption of the new zoning bylaw of the municipality.

During a subsequent presentation by the Planning Department to council on January 15, 2024 a preference was expressed for prohibiting Battery energy storage system (BESS) projects should be prohibited even though it was not in direct relation with any renewable energy project.

On November 27 2023, North Glengarry township council unanimously supported a proposal by Toronto-based Compass Energy Consulting company to construct a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on the North Glengarry side of Skye Road, which is across from the Hydro One St-Isidore Transformer Station, located in The Nation. BESS takes electricity from the power grid during times of off-peak demand and stores it in large batteries for re-release into the grid during times of peak demand.

At the January 29 2024 Nation council meeting, Councillor Tim Stewart said he does not want the bylaw limited to prohibiting only renewable energy projects, but also BESS facilities. Council instructed Planning Director Guylain Laflèche to revise the draft bylaw. At the council meeting on February 12, Stewart said he is concerned a wind turbine development could be constructed near a BESS site so the electricity produced by the wind turbines could be stored in the batteries.   

Councillor Daniel Boisvenu wondered what the megawatt threshold is between a commercial BESS facility and an energy storage unit for personal and home use. He likened BESS to a Tesla Power Pack, but on a much larger scale.