Edmonton-based company building flagship energy storage system in Medicine Hat

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on September 10, 2025.

newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com

Aqua-Cell Energy Inc. has announced it is launching a pilot project to build a saltwater flow battery in Medicine Hat.

Aqua-Cell’s flow battery design uses saltwater to provide energy storage. This design represents an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which are a costlier and less sustainable option for long-duration storage.

Battery storage facilities are used to store energy from intermittent sources, like renewables, and to save off-peak energy for peak hours. As demand for electricity is forecast to rise in the province, demand for energy storage systems will also increase.

The Edmonton-based company is launching the pilot project in collaboration with Alberta Innovates, the Ministry of Technology and Innovation and the Government of Alberta. It is one of three projects to receive development funding from the City of Medicine Hat’s Energy Innovation Challenge.

The installation in Medicine Hat will be Aqua-Cell’s first shipping-container-sized battery.

“Field pilots allow us to validate our technology under real-world conditions,” said Ellsworth Bell, co-gounder and CTO of Aqua-Cell Energy. “They are an important step in maturing our product and bringing low-cost, long-duration energy storage to market.”

The Medicine Hat pilot project will run until 2026. Performance data generated by the pilot will be used to inform opportunities to build more storage units in the city and across the province.

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