The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) has launched the CanREA Electricity Transition Hub, supported by nearly $1.6 million in funding. The hub is a knowledge-transfer tool helping electricity utilities and system operators accelerate their decarbonization efforts. The hub will equip participants to integrate the larger amounts of wind energy, solar energy and energy storage needed to support electrification and Canada’s net-zero GHG-emission targets.
“We are working with energy system operators and utilities from across the country to deliver a net-zero future,” says Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. “This investment of $1.6 million in CanREA’s Electricity Transition Hub will enable collaboration on clean energy deployment and grid modernization across the country. Congratulations to CanREA and all those involved in this important work.”
“During the Electricity Transformation Conference in Toronto, I was pleased to announce that the Government of Canada is supporting our utilities and systems operators to deliver the clean technologies we need to reach net-zero,” states Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and Member of Parliament for Toronto-Danforth. “This support for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association’s Electricity Transition Hub is an important step on the path to a prosperous net-zero future.”
Federal funding for this project is provided by Natural Resources Canada’s $1.56-billion Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways (SREPs) program, which aims to significantly reduce GHG emissions by enabling increased renewable energy capacity that will provide essential grid services while contributing to Canada’s 2050 net-zero targets.
“We want to thank Natural Resources Canada for their generous support of CanREA’s Electricity Transition Hub,” adds Robert Hornung, CanREA’s president and CEO. “The renewable energy industry has a critical role to play in helping Canada meet its net-zero commitments.”
Through developing a curated resource library, as well as sharing relevant knowledge and skills through a quarterly report, quarterly meetings and an annual Hub Summit event, the hub will help participants build capacity to increase the deployment of wind energy, solar energy, energy storage and grid-modernization technologies.
The hub has 13 founding participants, including Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), BC Hydro, City of Medicine Hat, EPCOR, Essex Power Corp., Fortis Inc., Manitoba Hydro, NB Power, Ontario Power Generation, Qulliq Energy Corp., SaskPower, Toronto Hydro and Utilities Kingston.
“CanREA is very excited to launch the Electricity Transition Hub. It is a unique entity that supports electricity system participants and helps them build capacity to accelerate the energy transition,” says Phil McKay, CanREA’s senior director of Electricity Transition Hub. “CanREA is uniquely positioned to gather global knowledge on wind energy, solar energy and energy storage integration, and then to translate these resources effectively to be relevant in all of Canada’s different regions and electricity systems.”
CanREA, utilities and system operators will also contribute to this project, bringing the total investment to over $1.9 million.
“We must build new wind energy, solar energy and energy storage projects at an unprecedented pace,” concludes Hornung. “Now is the right time to bring together Canada’s electricity utilities, system operators and renewable energy industry for capacity-building activities related to the deployment and integration of these technologies within electricity grids. There is not a moment to waste.”
