RC104 JanFeb2023 - Magazine - Page 7
CANREA LAUNCHES ELECTRICITY TRANSITION HUB
THE CANADIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY Associ-
Federal, provincial and territorial Infrastructure
ministers gathered in New Brunswick to discuss
their shared priorities.
INFRASTRUCTURE
MINISTERS GATHER TO
DISCUSS PRIORITIES
MINISTERS: GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, CANREA
MINISTER OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Dominic LeBlanc and Jeff Carr, New
Brunswick’s Minister of Transportation
and Infrastructure, co-chaired a meeting
of federal, provincial and territorial
Infrastructure ministers to discuss their
shared priorities and strengthen their
collaboration.
“Collaboration is key to building the
infrastructure our communities need to
keep growing and be more resilient,”
said LeBlanc. “During [the] meeting,
my counterparts and I discussed our
shared goals and the next generation of
infrastructure programs. With our partners from coast to coast to coast, our
government will continue to deliver for
Canadians.”
Ministers shared ideas on the next
iteration of cost-shared infrastructure
programs, and how to ensure they will
meet the challenges and the opportunities facing Canada in the coming years.
Ministers also agreed on the importance
of flexibility to ensure federal infrastructure funding supports regional,
environmental, economic, and social
priorities.
“Building on the shared priorities,
the provincial and territorial ministers
look forward to ongoing collaboration
with our federal colleagues, towards
stable and flexible long-term funding to
assist with our respective infrastructure
challenges including that of climate
change and the growing need for infrastructure resiliency,” said Carr.
RENEWCANADA.NET
ation (CanREA) announced the launch of the
CanREA Electricity Transition Hub, supported
by nearly $1.6 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada. The announcement was
made at the Electricity Transformation Canada
conference in Toronto.
“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,” said Jonathan
Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources.
The CanREA Electricity Transition 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.
“During today’s 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,” added Julie
Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministers of Natural Resources and Environment and Climate Change, and MP for
Toronto-Danforth.
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,” said
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 Corporation, Fortis
Inc., Manitoba Hydro, NB Power, Ontario
(L to R): Robert Hornung, CanREA’s president and
CEO; Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of
Environment and Climate Change; and Phil McKay,
CanREA’s senior director, Electricity Transition Hub.
Power Generation, Qulliq Energy Corporation, 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,” said Phil
McKay, CanREA’s senior director, 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,” said 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.”
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 — RENEW CANADA 7
