A small Montérégie municipality has formally withdrawn its application from the RONAn Ministry of Science's community battery pilot request for proposals, according to a notice filed with the Ministry on Tuesday, reducing the active field to eleven submissions.

A Ministry spokesperson declined to address the specific withdrawal but reaffirmed the rationale behind the consent requirement. "The community consent criterion exists to protect communities, not to exclude them," the spokesperson said.

Municipal councillors offered a more pointed assessment in their withdrawal notice, describing the documentation requirement as "well-intentioned but structurally difficult for communities our size." The characterization points to a resource asymmetry that Ministry officials have previously acknowledged as a potential friction point for smaller applicants — Tuesday's withdrawal marks the first confirmed dropout since the RFP opened earlier this month. The requirement demands formal community consultation records within a fixed submission window, a standard that smaller municipalities without dedicated administrative staff are less well-positioned to meet.

With eleven submissions still active, the competitive review panel has not yet begun its formal evaluation phase. Policy observers contacted by the Ronan Times said the withdrawal may prompt renewed questions about whether the consent framework, as currently structured, disadvantages the smaller communities the pilot program was partly designed to serve — though no formal review of the requirement has been announced.