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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British Columbia, where the environmentalists are your neighbors and First Nations a force, is the gatekeeper today of Canadian oil and gas industry growth.

Without new infrastructure in the province, the Alberta and Saskatchewan-based oil industry, and the B.C.-focused natural gas industry, can’t get to what they desperately want — new customers in Asia. B.C. is also the home of some of the richest natural gas fields on the continent, making it as important to gas producers as the oil sands are to the oil sector.

In Rich Coleman, B.C.’s newly appointed energy minister, industry will find a strong ally — and other provincial governments a motivated competitor.

The province led the way under former Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell in the past decade in improving government terms and regulation to promote industry activity.

“We are completely open to defining ways do things better and be competitive,” Mr. Coleman said in an interview in the harbour-front legislature, fresh from a visit to Calgary’s energy headquarters to collect feedback and ideas.

“One of the CEOs said to me we are in the Top Five or 10 as places to invest in the energy sector, probably in the world. And I said, ‘How do I get to No. 1?’ That’s my interest.”

…As a former forest minister, Mr. Coleman is well aware of the dangers of depending on only one market — the United States. The province led the push to find customers for the province’s lumber mills in Asia, a response to trade wars and a weak housing market in the U.S. Now Mr. Coleman wants to see new markets for energy, which means building new infrastructure including liquefied natural gas terminals and pipelines to the coast. By depending on the U.S., natural gas producers in British Columbia face the additional challenge of being the farthest away from the market, increasing their shipping costs.

“A diversified market would change that and probably stabilize price both in the North American market and in the Asian market,” he said.

Two LNG terminals are being planned for Kitimat, and a third one is at an advanced planning stage, potentially transforming the B.C. coast into a busy energy export hub.

Mr. Coleman said he plans at least to hold the line, or improve, royalty terms at the front end of projects to capture long-term investment. “Exploration and development is very expensive,” he said. “So, if you can have a tax and royalty regime in your jurisdiction that attracts investment, you will get your resource developed when other jurisdictions won’t because they will have to heavy a tax regime on it.”

The steady hand is good news for industry at a time of stubbornly low gas prices and should represent insurance against royalty hikes in other places, particularly if the strategy wins popular support as the province heads into an election of its own.

Financial Post

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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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