Appointment
AECOM joins the Worley team on the Ontario Pumped Storage Project
By Staff Writer | 07-09-2026
AECOM has been engaged by Worley to support the next phase of development of the proposed Ontario Pumped Storage Project at Meaford, Ontario, a long duration energy storage scheme planned to provide about 1,000 megawatts of generation capacity and 10,600 megawatt hours of storage. AECOM announced the engagement on 4 September 2026. No fee or contract value is published.
The scope AECOM will carry
The announcement places AECOM inside a Worley led team that is taking the project through its next phase of engineering and planning. Within that team AECOM will support the advancement of the underground works and the hydraulic systems, with the stated aim of optimising the design for constructability, operability and long term performance. It will also contribute to cost and schedule development, risk assessment and other engineering activities.
That is a design development and cost role, not a construction appointment. The announcement is careful on this point: the project is described throughout as proposed, and the phase is described as one that helps advance it toward an informed investment decision. Nothing in the announcement says the project has been sanctioned or that construction has been procured.
The figures on the announcement are the project's expected output, approximately 1,000 megawatts of generation capacity and 10,600 megawatt hours of energy storage. No capital cost for the project and no value for AECOM's engagement or for Worley's are published.
What pumped storage is for, as the announcement puts it
The announcement explains the technology in one sentence: by storing electricity when demand is lower and returning it to the grid when it is most valuable, pumped storage can provide long duration capacity and flexibility while helping make more effective use of Ontario's existing and future generation resources. The project is presented as a response to growing demand for reliable, flexible power in the province.
Richard Barrett, chief executive of AECOM's Canada region, is quoted on the announcement:
Ontario is entering a period of significant electricity demand growth, making long-duration energy storage increasingly important to a reliable and flexible electricity system. The Ontario Pumped Storage Project represents an opportunity to apply proven technology at a scale that can help meet the province's future electricity needs. We are proud to bring our Canadian and global hydropower expertise to this landmark project and help advance it toward an informed investment decision.
Richard Barrett, chief executive, Canada region, AECOM
Who holds what
Worley leads the team and has engaged AECOM. The announcement does not name the project owner, does not say who engaged Worley, and does not describe the terms on which either firm is working. AECOM says its involvement builds on its hydropower experience and its work in pumped storage elsewhere, but names no comparable project.
For a reader following the professional services market, the shape is one engineering firm engaging another for a defined technical slice of a large civil scheme, the underground works and the hydraulic systems, on a project that has not yet reached investment decision. The published record supports that reading and no more.
On the record: the client relationship, Worley engaging AECOM; the location, Meaford, Ontario; the expected capacity and storage figures; the technical scope AECOM will support; and the stage, the next phase of engineering and planning ahead of an investment decision. The announcement is dated 4 September 2026 and issued from Ontario.
Not on the record: the value of the engagement, the duration of the phase, the date at which an investment decision is expected, the project's capital cost and the identity of the project owner. None of those is stated and none should be inferred from this notice.