Canada continues to make gains when it comes to the share of renewable power resources in energy portfolios across the country, but storm winds are brewing.
That’s according to a recent op-ed from researchers at Clean Energy Canada, who say it’s time to step on the gas pedal at a “pivotal” moment for the country’s green power industry.
Writing in the Globe and Mail, Executive Director Merran Smith and Policy Director Dan Woynillowicz say that 2016 has been a year when the country’s clean energy conversion efforts hit a wall. According to the think tank’s 2016 annual report, released this summer, Canada saw a 15 per cent year-to-year decline in spending on clean energy projects last year. A reset is needed if the country is to meet its 2030 climate change reduction targets, they argue.
“The decline in dollars—from nearly $12-billion to just more than $10-billion—is largely the result of a policy gap,” the authors argue. “As existing initiatives have run their course, new promises have not yet translated into concrete policy measures. That’s having repercussions from coast to coast to coast, dictating where projects are moving ahead, or not.”
There continue to be significant gaps between the provinces when it comes to renewables. In 2015, Quebec had the highest percentage of clean power in its generation portfolio (99.4 per cent) according to an analysis by Sask Wind, Manitoba and B.C. finished second and third (99.3 and 98.3 per cent, respectively), thanks largely to legacy hydroelectric resources.
Provinces not blessed with hydro continue to lag. Alberta (10 per cent), Saskatchewan (17.3 per cent), Nova Scotia (26.6 per cent), and Ontario (31.0) rounded out the bottom four last year. In all, just 66.6 per cent of power generated in Canada last year was considered renewable.
There were bright spots in the clean energy landscape in 2015—including Alberta’s ambitious plan to phase out coal. Overall, it was the second-best year for renewable power installation in history. More than $45 billion has been invested in clean power projects in the past five years. But elsewhere, Canada fell behind other developed nations in the shift to clean energy.
Smith and Woynillowicz say this fall’s plan to build a national climate plan is a good way to keep up the momentum seen in 2014, which saw an unprecedented 29 per cent gain in clean energy investment.
“And despite a slower year for clean energy spending in 2015, the fresh resolve we’re seeing in some parts of the country has opened the door to renewed growth in the years ahead,” they wrote.
By Jonny Wakefield, 15 September 2016