A Bowmanville cement plant is taking a 50 MWh battery with nothing due up front - the megawatts are blank, one trade page hopes for May 2028, and the box charges from the grid
On 27 October 2026 Rodan Energy and St. Marys Cement said Rodan will develop, own and operate a 50 MWh battery behind the meter at the Bowmanville, Ontario plant. St. Marys pays nothing up front. The release does not print megawatts, a dollar figure, a savings split or a switch-on date. CemNet, on 29 October, says those four lines were not disclosed. Energy Tech, on 28 October, writes that Rodan hopes to switch on by May 2028. No solar is named. The battery charges from the grid.
A cement kiln is a large workplace power bill. The battery in this announcement sits on the plant's side of the meter. It does not make electricity. It holds power the grid has already delivered, and gives that power back when the plant's demand is high.
On 27 October 2026 Rodan Energy Solutions and St. Marys Cement said they have a long-term agreement for a 50 megawatt-hour battery at St. Marys Cement's plant in Bowmanville, Ontario. St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada) is a subsidiary of Votorantim Cimentos North America. Rodan will develop, own and operate the battery. The release says Rodan takes the development capital and the operating risk. St. Marys pays nothing up front. The release calls the result a fully managed, long-term energy solution.
What the box does, in the release's words. It lets the plant cut its draw from the grid at peak times and keep essential operations running. It charges in lower-demand periods and is used in high-peak periods. The release says that cuts demand on the grid at times when the carbon intensity of electricity can be higher. It does not print a carbon figure for the plant, and it does not print the price of the power that fills the battery. A battery only stores what the grid, or a solar array, puts in. This release names the grid. It does not name solar.
The blanks on the company page. No megawatts. No hours. Hours are the energy divided by the power. 50 megawatt-hours is the energy. The power is absent, so the hours are absent. No dollar cost. No annual saving. No split of any saving. No contract length, beyond the words "long-term". No switch-on date. The plant has run in Bowmanville since 1968. That year is not a battery date.
"Canada's largest behind-the-meter" is the companies' description of this installation. The release does not print a national register. Behind the meter means the box sits on the customer's side of the utility meter. It is not a power plant bidding into a provincial contract.
The release says the Bowmanville job is the group's first project of this kind, and a base for looking at similar jobs at other Votorantim Cimentos sites. A sentence about other sites is not a signed battery at those sites.
The platform line is a different number. Rodan says its FlexOps software manages over 1,500 megawatts of distributed resources across North America, a mix of load that can be turned down, generation, grid batteries and behind-the-meter batteries. 1,500 megawatts is the platform. 50 megawatt-hours is this tank. A megawatt and a megawatt-hour are not the same unit. The release does not add them.
Two trade pages, the next two days. CemNet, published 29 October 2026 at 10:14, says Rodan will finance, develop, own and operate the system, and that St. Marys incurs no upfront capital spending. CemNet then lists what the companies have not disclosed: the power rating, the investment value, the commissioning schedule and the expected annual savings. Energy Tech, published 28 October 2026, writes that Rodan hopes to reach commercial operation by May 2028. The same article writes that Votorantim would pay Rodan from the plant's own savings on energy use and on grid services. It also writes that the battery stays on the grid connection and can run the plant's load when provincial demand is high, standing in for on-site diesel. The 27 October release does not print May 2028, a payment split, or diesel. CemNet's list of undisclosed items includes the commissioning schedule. A hope on a trade page is not a date in the agreement.
A different Ontario battery, already on this desk. The Woodstock car-parts note is a 3.6 megawatt box with the hours printed. This Bowmanville page prints the energy, and leaves the megawatts blank. The IESO connection map posted on 23 October is for plants seeking a provincial contract. A battery on a local factory feeder is outside that map. Bowmanville, as this release describes it, is that kind of cabinet. The map does not price it.
Analogy: 50 megawatt-hours is the size of the tank. The width of the tap is not on the label. The cement company does not own the tank. The tank fills from the grid. The dollars and the day it switches on are not on the label either.
Good: A public release date, a named plant, a named energy size, a named owner, and a clear line that nothing is due up front.
Bad: No megawatts, so no hours. No price. No savings figure. No split. No solar. "Long-term" is not a term of years. "Canada's largest" is the companies' sentence. May 2028 is a hope in Energy Tech, and CemNet says the schedule was not disclosed.
Ugly: Reading 50 megawatt-hours as 50 megawatts. Treating the battery as a power source of its own. Putting May 2028 on the invoice. Using 1,500 megawatts as the size of this plant. Adding solar the release does not name. Treating a look at other Votorantim sites as batteries already bought.
Soft next step: set 50 MWh beside the kilowatts on any quote, and leave the dollar line and the switch-on line blank until a page prints them.
Source: Rodan Energy Solutions and St. Marys Cement, 27 Oct 2026 - Bowmanville behind-the-meter battery. Primary for the 27 October release, the 50 MWh size, the Bowmanville, Ontario plant, St. Marys Cement Inc. (Canada) as a subsidiary of Votorantim Cimentos North America, Rodan developing, owning and operating the battery, Rodan taking the development capital and the operating risk, nothing due up front, charging in lower-demand periods and use in high-peak periods, a cut in grid demand when carbon intensity can be higher, the plant operating in Bowmanville since 1968, the companies' description of the job as Canada's largest behind-the-meter installation, the group's first project of this type, and FlexOps managing over 1,500 MW of distributed resources. The release does not print megawatts, hours, a dollar cost, a savings figure, a savings split, a contract length in years, a switch-on date, solar, diesel, or May 2028. CemNet, 29 Oct 2026, 10:14 - St Marys Cement plans 50 MWh battery. Primary for the statement that the companies have not disclosed the power rating, the investment value, the commissioning schedule or the expected annual savings, and for CemNet's wording that Rodan will finance, develop, own and operate the system with no upfront capital spending by St. Marys. Energy Tech, Rod Walton, 28 Oct 2026 - 50 MWh behind the meter at Bowmanville. Primary for the sentence that Rodan hopes to reach commercial operation by May 2028, for the sentence that Votorantim would pay Rodan from savings on energy use and grid services, and for the sentence that the battery can run plant load at times of high provincial demand in place of on-site diesel. Those three sentences are not in the 27 October release. 50 MWh divided by an unprinted megawatt rating is our description of why the hours are absent. The release does not print that division.