Syntaris Power

Aside from the hydroelectric dams throughout the country, Canada is not known for having a large amount of renewable energy generation.

However, over the last few years, the government in Canada has expressed an increasing desire to increase the overall percentage of Canadian electricity that is produced using sources of renewable energy.

1) Ontario Legislature Sings Green Energy Act. In 2009, the legislature in the province of Ontario passed the Green Energy Act. The act is said to increase new investment into the area for renewable energy, create a number of jobs within the green economy sector, and increase sustainability throughout the environment.

This act, as well as a number of complimentary regulations and policies, will supply the government with ample tools that will guarantee a place for Ontario as a leader within the North American renewable energy sector, as well as create a society where government, schools, industries, and homeowners embrace the concept of energy efficiency.

Some of the elements include mandatory home energy audits prior to sale, the development of a feed-in tariff system, and new programs to assist with diverting costs on renewable energy projects.

2) Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance. The Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance, or CanREA as it is more commonly known as, is a civil society organization that seeks to promote a worldwide transition to the use of low-impact renewable energy sources as well as energy conservation and efficiency.

Items CanREA explores include global climate change, pollution, human security, global energy supply, and economic sustainability. CanREA’s world vision includes ones where ‘energy needs are minimized through energy conservation and energy efficiency, and in which low-impact renewable energy is consistently the first choice to meet energy needs.’ CanREA works alongside the government to make necessary transitions.

3) CanmetENERGY. CanmetENERGY, part of National Resources Canada is the leader in research and development of clean energy technologies. The group consists of more than 450 scientists, technicians, and engineers and has become the center for expertise in clean energy technologies. They are the largest energy science and technology organization around.

The aim is to guarantee that Canada stands as a leader in clean energy technologies, as well as decrease greenhouse gas emissions around the country and improve the overall health of Canada’s citizens.

CanmetENERGY’s job is to ‘manage science and technology programs and services, support the development energy policy, codes and regulations, act as a window to federal financing and work with our partners to develop more energy efficient and cleaner technologies in [a number of areas]‘ which includes bio energy, renewable, transportation, and clean fossil fuels.

4) Canada is a Place for Renewable Energy Investment. Canada is seen as a great location for renewable energy investment. It has a great infrastructure, long term ‘green policies,’ a number of tax incentives, and the fact the sector is in line to grow exponentially.

Canada has a lot to offer investors, such as the country is the largest producer of hydropower, has the most access to resources for biomass in the world, a fast growing wind sector, and is the leader in solar air collector manufacturing and commercialization…

Shawn Lesser is Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ‘The Global Voice of Cleantech’.

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We have a lot to celebrate in British Columbia. As the leading economies of the world strive to achieve a clean-energy future, we are well positioned to play a leading role. We have an emerging clean-tech sector, supported by some of the most progressive energy policies on the continent -policies that are creating real jobs and opportunities today.

Take B.C.’s pioneering carbon tax. Nobody likes paying taxes, but for four years and through two elections, this policy has brought unexpected benefits to the people of this province. The idea is simple: Put a price on fossil fuels, so that dumping global-warming gases into the atmosphere is no longer free. As the rate gradually increases, the tax makes cleaner and more efficient alternatives to fossil fuels more viable.

A recent column by economist Mark Jaccard highlights figures from the B.C. budget that the carbon tax has paid back to British Columbians $200 million more than it has taken away. Yes, the carbon tax is actually delivering a significant tax cut, in disguise. According to Jaccard’s assessment, at least three-quarters of British Columbians are paying less today because of the carbon tax. For hundreds of thousands of us, that has meant more money in our pocket for groceries, child care, sports and other costs.

And our carbon-pricing policy has helped one of the largest clusters of clean-tech companies in the world to expand. While every other month brings news of mill closures and challenges to our traditional resource industries, clean tech stands as one of the fastest growing sectors, with hundreds of companies and thousands of employees.

Many of these companies did not exist 10 years ago. These are knowledge-based jobs that pay well above the provincial average. The sector exports a range of technologies to 50 countries -products such as wind turbines, solar panels, biofuel systems, clean transportation technologies, and smart-grid solutions British Columbia’s economic advantages have been bolstered by our leadership in the Western Climate Initiative -a regional agreement to reduce global warming pollution that is on track to kick in early next year. Through our cooperation with California, Quebec, and others, British Columbia is at the leading edge of the green economy in North America.

By Moura Quayle And John Richards, Vancouver Sun

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Canada’s power grid will need an annual investment of $15 billion for the next 20 years in order to maintain aging facilities and meet rising demand, according to a report released Thursday.

Canada’s Electricity Infrastructure: Building a Case for Investment, a study funded by the Canadian Electrical Association and conducted by the Conference Board of Canada, suggests that a total investment of $293.8 billion is necessary between now and 2030 to service old infrastructure and boost power generation from renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass energy.

“We want to be open and frank with Canadians, because this will all be reflected in the price of electricity,” says Pierre Guimond, president and CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association.

Investment in Canada’s electrical grid was high in the 1970s and ’80s, as power producers attempted to meet a significant growth in demand. The result was overbuilding, and supply overwhelmed demand. That helped to keep the cost of electricity low for several decades, but now major new investment is needed to replace worn out plants.

“Most of what is out there was built before 1980. We have been focused on keeping prices low and keeping reliability high for all these decades. We’ve maintained the system, but we’ve not added much large capacity to it, except for some Hydro Quebec projects,” says Guimond.

“New neighbourhoods have popped up all over the country as the population increased and we became more urbanized, and this led to a lot of increase in the distribution sector investment.”

According to the report, the largest chunk of the recommended investment — $195.7 billion — is required for power generation, with another $62.3 billion required to improve the distribution system and $35.8 billion for transmission.

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British Columbia could potentially capture a piece of the market for renewable energy in the Western United States, but it’s going to take major policy changes on both sides of the border, as well as hefty investment in transmission and generation in the province.

A white paper released earlier this month by The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), a B.C.-based academic research group, examined both the opportunities and risks of expanding electricity exports, as called for in the province’s 2010 Clean Energy Act.

The Clean Energy Act lays out two different types of export projects, one through the IRP process and the other through a surplus created through “self-sufficiency” requirements. The act protects ratepayers from the risk associated with the IRP process, but not from risks associated with province’s self-sufficiency requirements, the report says.

Dr. George Hoberg, from the University of British Columbia and co-author of the report, told Energy Prospects West that there are several policy gaps in the B.C. export plan.

“We need to ensure that the investments needed to build projects to export make economic sense,” Hoberg said. “We don’t have anything that requires a net-benefit test.”

The province also lacks a comprehensive land-use planning mechanism.

“How do we plan for the environmental impacts in B.C.? We do have province-wide electricity planning, but we don’t have a framework for land-use planning at the regional level that allows for the cumulative impacts of multiple projects.”

The white paper lays out six policy recommendations, including developing a revenue-sharing mechanism with local communities affected by large new energy projects.

In addition, the paper recommends that the government ensure that electricity exports do not jeopardize the reliability of domestic supply by providing guidance on setting upper limits on the proportion of B.C. electricity that can be dedicated to the export market.

The government should also require any importing jurisdiction to have meaningful demand-side management programs in place before signing an export contract.

…Still, B.C. sees a market for its renewable power, thanks to RPS requirements in states within the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s footprint.

BC Hydro’s 2008 Long Term Acquisition Plan suggested that total renewable energy demand within WECC could reach 177,301 GWh/yr (20.2 aGW) in 2020. In 2008, 43,618 GWh/yr (5 aGW) were in service, leaving a gap in supply of renewable energy of 133,683 GWh/yr, according to BC Hydro projections.

An analysis done last year by Clean Energy B.C., a coalition of independent power producers in the province, suggested that the B.C. could capture 10 percent of the WECC market for renewables.

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