There’s a peculiar new sight along Cameron Street, the arterial road of Cannington, Ont. In a courtyard beside the old Cannington Convenience lies what looks like a big, glowing phone booth sitting atop a stone bench. 

“Having these spaces within these communities, big or small, I think, are really essential as we electrify our systems.”

The glowing phone booth, it turns out, is actually a giant battery. Built by Toronto-based startup Civic Grid on behalf of The Nourish and Develop Foundation (TNDF), it helps power the neighbouring food bank for cheap while providing residents with a mini town square to gather and recharge. For Civic Grid, the pilot project is a demonstration of a new kind of community infrastructure. 

“This square provides … lighting, shelter, seating, [and] an open courtyard to be an extension and to strengthen the TNDF’s existing programming,” Civic Grid founder and CEO Max Fine told BetaKit in an interview on Thursday. “Having these spaces within these communities, big or small, I think, are really essential as we electrify our systems and we go through this energy transition.” 

The courtyard’s 60 kWh energy system charges during the cheap, off-peak night hours, then powers the TNDF’s two buildings for six hours the following day. That keeps its fridges and community kitchen running at less cost, while also providing insurance if the power goes out. 

Fine said a battery like this shows how important energy access is for people to participate in society. Already, multiple people are charging their phones in the courtyard in the morning, and it has helped an electric wheelchair user get moving when they ran out of juice. This philosophy is also reflected in the design, with the stone base meant to evoke a community water well. 

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“The idea that people can come and fill up, and take it home, [it’s] a more modern version of that well,” Fine said. “You have basic access to a life-saving amount of water; you’re not taking a bath in a public water fountain, you’re just getting a drink.”

Like other startups, Fine and Civic Grid foresee increasing electric vehicle, AI, and heat pump demand straining power grids in the future. While batteries like this could help increase grid capacity, Fine said communities are often against “big, clunky industrial systems” near them. By designing its batteries as a community fixture, Fine said he’s been met with much less resistance. 

“The community is accepting this technology in a place where they might not have accepted it before,” Fine said. “The design is really the unlock of the technology in a lot of these hard-to-reach spaces.”

Feature image courtesy Civic Grid. Photo by Jon Laytner.