Canada is hungrier than ever for electricity, as the country races to attract data centres and electrify industry. But if that burgeoning demand is met by fossil fuels instead of non-emitting sources like hydro, wind and solar, provinces risk erasing years of progress and ceding the competitive advantage of access to clean energy.
This fall, the federal government reaffirmed the place of its Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) within its Climate Competitiveness Strategy. But the regulations face ongoing challenges, including legal action by the Alberta government. Recent provincial rollbacks of other electricity policies, such as Saskatchewan's decision to extend the life of coal plants, create more fissures in policy confidence. At a crucial time for Canada's electricity systems, a stable CER offers valuable policy certainty.
A bigger, faster build-out of the grid depends on a stable policy foundation. Federal policy can act as structural reinforcement, protecting against cracks of uncertainty and reassuring utilities and utility regulators that the future of clean electricity in Canada is on solid ground. That includes standing firm on the Clean Electricity Regulations, and holding a high standard for provincial proposals for equivalency.
The stakes are high. Utilities and electricity system planners across the country are preparing for a period of steep demand growth and expansion of generating capacity. New sources of demand are forcing revisions to demand projections sharply upward. Building more electricity capacity is unavoidable.
What gets built now to meet new demand will be in place for decades to come, setting the stage for current and future decarbonization efforts across the economy.
