By Mitchell Beer

With the federal government expected to release its long-awaited national electricity strategy this week, Canada could be in line to lose $110 to $220 billion in new investment and 40,000 to 80,000 direct jobs if it fails to deliver a clean power grid “at the scale and speed that industry and investors need,” a recent report concludes.

While senior executives across Canada’s finance, technology, heavy industry, mining, and clean energy sectors recognize that clean power is essential, it’s only worth pursuing “when it is predictable, cost-competitive, and available at scale,” states the report released earlier this month by the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE).

Canada enters the energy transition with an advantage over many other industrialized nations, with about 85% of its power coming from non-emitting sources, consultants at Dunsky Energy + Climate report. Clean economy sectors like electric vehicles, batteries, and the grid itself have received about $65 billion in new investment, producing at least 26,000 direct jobs and tens of thousands more across related supply chains.

That investment is taking place at a moment when access to electricity is central to site selection and capital allocation for new projects, adding asset value and enabling market access for new investments in tech, artificial intelligence, and mining.

But “Canada’s clean electricity edge is under threat,” Dunsky warns. “Grid constraints, permitting delays, and interconnection uncertainty are already slowing or cancelling investments.”

Canada faces those challenges in a moment of intensifying global competition, the report adds, with other jurisdictions “rapidly decarbonize their grids with the aim of attracting clean investment.”

The national electricity strategy has been in development for some time. Insiders say its release is now just days away, and it’s expected to focus on east-west transmission, Indigenous leadership, and better collaboration among provinces. Earlier this month, Ontario announced a “major nation-building milestone” when 10 provinces and territories—everyone but Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut—agreed to work together on new transmission infrastructure.

There was no official word on the national strategy’s release as this story went to virtual press. But The Energy Mix has learned that it may appear as soon as this Wednesday or Thursday and feature federal investment in grid interties between provinces, though the form of investment—through loans, grants, federal ownership, of investment tax credits—remains to be seen. The strategy is expected to remain silent on the fate of the federal Clean Electricity Regulations, and it isn’t clear whether it will address the role of gas-fired electricity or carbon capture and storage on the grid.

The Dunsky report calls for long-term coordination and policy certainty across federal, provincial, and territorial governments to make permitting and grid interconnections faster and more transparent, all with the goal of accelerating the buildout of clean generation, storage, and transmission. It points to Indigenous partnerships as an element that could “unlock project development”, and stresses the role of demand-side solutions to “lower system costs, defer infrastructure, and improve reliability—especially for fast-growing data centre and industrial loads.”

SHARE Public Affairs Director Jennifer Story said the consultants sought interviews with executives whose companies will need reliable supplies of green energy. “There’s a growing number of investors and companies that are hearing back from regulators, hearing back from provincial decision-makers, that they’re in the queue or that their needs can’t be met.,” she told The Energy Mix in an interview.

“If Canada is really serious about creating new opportunities in our economy to buffer the effects of the worsening relationship with the United States, this is a really obvious place to do it,” she added. “We’ll certainly be looking to see whether or not [the federal electricity strategy] goes the distance to meet this need.”

With net-zero commitments and carbon pricing systems in place in 10 of Canada’s 11 biggest trading partners—the U.S. is the outlier—Story said faster buildout of a clean electricity grid could be an essential nation-building project to protect Canadian sovereignty.

“It does tie in to trade strategy,” she told The Mix. “Some countries and regions are imposing carbon border adjustments, for example. Responding to that reality means again demonstrating clearly that we can supply our issuers, our publicly-traded and private companies, with the clean power they need to not have those border adjustments be a barrier to market access in other parts of the world.”

And to attract climate-aligned investment, “we also need to demonstrate to those investors that the companies they’re considering, the projects they’re considering, have not just green but also reliable, affordable, consistently available clean power.”

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The report highlights a rapidly evolving energy system, driven by rising electricity demand, continued reliance on natural gas, and the growing complexity of balancing affordability, reliability, and emissions reductions.

The CER’s Energy Futures analysis is not a prediction, but rather a series of scenarios exploring how Canada’s energy mix could evolve under different economic, technological, and policy conditions.

Still, one conclusion is clear: electricity demand is expected to surge, while natural gas remains a key part of the energy system—even as the country works toward lower emissions.

That finding aligns with a growing body of industry and policy analysis pointing to the same dual trend.

Electricity demand in Canada is rising quickly, driven by electrification of transportation, industry, and buildings. A recent industry report described the situation as requiring Canada to “build big again,” warning that the country may need to dramatically expand its grid to keep pace with demand growth.

At the same time, reliability concerns are emerging. A North American reliability assessment cited by Global News found Canada’s power grid is under increasing strain, with demand expected to outpace new supply in several regions later this decade.

Against that backdrop, natural gas is expected to continue playing a significant role, particularly as a flexible source of power generation that can support intermittent renewables like wind and solar.

Canada’s broader energy landscape is already moving in that direction. Federal data shows renewable electricity is growing, but oil and natural gas remain foundational to the economy and energy system.

The CER report suggests this dual-track evolution—more electricity, but continued natural gas use—will define Canada’s energy transition over the coming decades.

That reflects a broader shift in how policymakers and industry are framing the transition: not as a simple replacement of fossil fuels, but as a more complex transformation of the entire energy system.

Recent federal policy signals point the same way. Ottawa has emphasized the need to invest in grid infrastructure and energy systems to maintain affordability and reliability while transitioning to lower-carbon sources.

The challenge, analysts say, is scale.

Electrification alone could require doubling or even tripling parts of Canada’s electricity system, while maintaining reliability during extreme weather events and peak demand periods. At the same time, natural gas infrastructure continues to expand in some regions to meet growing demand and support economic activity.

This creates a tension at the heart of Canada’s energy future.

On one hand, electricity—particularly from low-emission sources—is expected to do much of the heavy lifting in reducing emissions. On the other, natural gas remains critical for reliability, industrial use, and export opportunities.

The CER’s outlook underscores that both trends are likely to unfold simultaneously.

It also reinforces a key message for policymakers: the transition will require significant investment, regulatory reform, and coordination across provinces and sectors.

Canada’s energy system is already diverse and regionally fragmented, with provinces relying on different mixes of hydro, nuclear, fossil fuels, and renewables. Integrating these systems—while expanding capacity and reducing emissions—will be a major undertaking.

The CER’s modelling highlights the uncertainty involved. Long-term energy forecasts depend on assumptions about technology costs, climate policy, global markets, and consumer behaviour, all of which can change rapidly.

Even so, the direction of travel is becoming clearer.

Electricity is poised to become the backbone of a lower-emissions economy. Natural gas, meanwhile, is expected to remain an important—if evolving—part of the mix.

For Canada, the question is no longer whether the energy system will change, but how quickly—and whether the country can build the infrastructure needed to support that transformation.

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By Naveena Sadasivam

For more than a decade, the clean energy economy has been on a steep growth trajectory. Companies have poured billions of dollars into battery manufacturing, solar and wind generation, and electric vehicle plants in the U.S., as solar costs fell sharply and EV sales surged. That momentum is set to continue surging in much of the world — but in the United States, it’s starting to stall.

According to a new report from the clean energy think tank E2, new investment in clean energy projects last year was dwarfed by a cascade of cancellations for projects already in progress. For every dollar announced in new clean energy projects, companies canceled, closed, or downsized roughly three dollars’ worth. In total, at least roughly $35 billion in projects were abandoned last year, compared to just $3.4 billion in cancellations in 2023 and 2024 combined.

“That’s pretty jarring considering how much progress we made in previous years,” said Michael Timberlake, a director of research and publications at E2. “The rest of the world is generally doubling down or transitioning further, and the U.S. is now becoming increasingly combative and antagonistic towards clean energy industries.”

Timberlake said the Trump administration’s attacks on renewable energy are the main driver of the slowdown. Companies began pulling back their investments shortly after the November 2024 election, when a victorious Trump telegraphed that he would promote fossil fuels over solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies. For instance, TotalEnergies, the French oil-and-gas giant, paused development of two offshore wind projects in late November 2024, citing uncertainty after Trump’s election. The company has not restarted the projects since.

Trump followed through on those promises once in office: One of his first actions in office was to pause leasing and permitting for offshore wind. The freeze resulted in several wind developers indefinitely pausing or abandoning their projects while lawsuits trickled through the courts. (Federal judges have issued judgments in favour of the wind companies in recent months.) Trump’s administration also pulled billions of dollars in funding for a range of clean energy projects and cancelled or retooled Biden-era policies favourable to the industry, such as energy-efficiency measures, IRS tax guidance, and loans for a transmission line expected to carry solar and wind power.

Congress, at the behest of Trump, also passed the “One Big Beautiful Act” over the summer. In addition to sunsetting lucrative tax credits for renewable energy production, the law hammered the electric vehicle industry from multiple sides: It ended investment credits supporting the buildout of battery manufacturers, and simultaneously nixed the $7,500 tax credit available to American consumers who purchase EVs.

Timberlake cautioned against pinning clean energy’s disappointing year on any one policy. While the One Big Beautiful Act was the “biggest signifier” of the shift, “the overall policy and regulatory attack” is to blame for the glut of project cancellations, he said. “It’s not an environment that encourages more investment because no one knows what six months from now will look like.”

Electric vehicle and battery manufacturing have been hit the hardest over the past year. Each sector lost roughly $21 billion in investment over the past year, according to E2’s analysis, which includes some overlapping projects that serve both purposes. The industries also lost an estimated 48,000 potential jobs. These two industries likely lost the most investments because they had been growing the fastest in recent years, meaning they had more projects in the pipeline to cancel or downsize once President Trump was elected. The EV industry’s outlook, in particular, changed once Congress repealed consumer tax credits made available by former President Joe Biden. That, along with the general policy uncertainty, led to automakers revising their expectations for EV demand in the U.S. and reallocating their investments accordingly.

Some states were hit harder than others. In 2025 alone, Michigan lost 13 clean energy projects worth $8.1 billion — more than twice as many as any other state, due to its role as the capital of the U.S. auto industry. Illinois, Georgia, and New York also lost billions of dollars in investments.

Many automakers that scaled back electric vehicle plans last year redirected those investments rather than abandoning them outright. Ford, for example, had originally planned to build all-electric commercial vehicles at its $1.5 billion Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake. But after revising its EV ambitions, the company pivoted the facility toward gas-powered and hybrid vans. Because Ford did not scrap the plant altogether, Timberlake said, facilities like Avon Lake could still be retrofitted for electric vehicle production if market conditions and policy outlooks improve.

“The silver lining view is they’re hopefully maintaining those facilities so that when there is certainty, those factories will still be available for making EVs down the road,” said Timberlake.

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By Milosz Karpinski, Energy Analyst
Eléonore Carré, Junior Energy Security Analyst

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In a blog published February 4, Pembina argues that Canada’s automotive sector has long been structurally vulnerable because more than 80 per cent of vehicles made in the country are destined for the U.S. market, exposing Canadian workers and manufacturers to volatility in U.S. trade policy and demand.

“That dependency has resulted in significant job losses in the Canadian auto sector,” the Pembina report notes, citing production declines linked to U.S. reshoring efforts and tariff threats.

The Pembina Institute says the global shift to EVs represents a rare opportunity for Canada to rebalance this dynamic by connecting domestic workers and manufacturers to a rapidly growing global market while building stable demand at home. Current statistics suggest that while EV sales have grown internationally, adoption in Canada has been uneven, with registrations representing just a small share of the national fleet and showing signs of slowing after consumer rebate programs ended.

Industry data shows EV sales in Canada plunged sharply in early 2025 after the federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program paused, with some markets seeing year-over-year drops as high as 40–45 per cent. That decline occurred even as the broader auto market grew, suggesting price and incentive factors remain key to consumer uptake.

A BloombergNEF outlook shows global EV sales continue to rise overall but that growth rates are decelerating in major markets, including North America, as policy uncertainty and infrastructure challenges weigh on demand.

Pembina’s analysis comes as Ottawa and industry stakeholders grapple with broader trade and policy pressures. Canada previously launched a 30-day public consultation on measures to protect auto workers and the EV supply chain from unfair Chinese trade practices, underscoring concerns about global oversupply and non-market competition that could undercut domestic manufacturing.

At the same time, recent moves by U.S. authorities, including threats of tariffs and shifting EV sales mandates, have intensified debate about Canada’s export dependency and competitiveness. A recent Wall Street Journal report highlights Canadian government efforts to recoup subsidies from automakers like Stellantis and General Motors after scaled-back production in the country.

Pembina says Canada must focus on two parallel goals: stimulating a robust domestic EV market and diversifying export markets. “If the U.S. market is becoming less reliable, Canada must concentrate on where global demand is expanding,” the think tank argues.

Part of that strategy includes strong policies like the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard (EVAS) and continued investment in charging infrastructure, incentives and consumer choice — measures that help make EVs more affordable and attractive to Canadian buyers.

Beyond vehicles themselves, the Pembina analysis highlights the importance of engaging across the entire EV supply chain, from vehicle assembly to battery production and critical mineral development, where Canada has natural advantages that could support high-quality jobs.

Provinces such as Québec have attracted major battery investments, including a planned $7-billion battery cell facility and battery material plants, reinforcing Canada’s potential role in EV production and the broader clean economy.

Experts say Canada’s path forward involves policy clarity and market support, balancing domestic demand with global competitiveness. As the EV sector evolves, maintaining momentum on electrification policies and workforce development will be central to ensuring Canadian auto workers benefit from the transition to a low-carbon future.

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Toronto-based energy storage developer Hydrostor has secured permission to build a 500-megawatt compressed-air energy storage system in the Mojave Desert and is now seeking customers to contract the project’s full capacity.

Final permitting approval from the California Energy Commission (CEC) positions its Willow Rock project to be “shovel-ready in 2026,” Hydrostor said in a mid-December release.

The grid-connected advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) is designed to store and deliver enough electricity to power more than 400,000 average California homes for more than eight hours.

Willow Rock is also projected to deliver US$500 million in direct and indirect economic benefits regionally, “supporting thousands of jobs over the course of construction, with 700 workers onsite at peak construction,” Emily Smith, Hydrostor’s director of external affairs, told The Energy Mix. Once it goes into operation, the facility is expected to support 25 to 40 full-time jobs.

Unlike lithium-ion battery storage systems, Willow Rock will require neither critical minerals nor hazardous materials, Hydrostor says. The storage process begins at the point of its grid connection, where excess renewable energy, like that generated at mid-day by solar plants, spins compressors that produce heated compressed air.

The heat is captured and stored in tanks, while the cool compressed air is pushed 600 metres below ground into a water-filled cavern. As the air enters the cavern, the water is pushed up into a surface reservoir. The A-CAES system becomes a fully-charged battery when the cavern is full of air.

When power is needed, like during periods of peak power demand or when solar or wind production drops, the process reverses, using gravity to draw the stored water back down into the cavern, displacing the air and forcing it back up to the surface. The air is reheated using the heat stored in the tanks, then used to spin turbines to generate electricity.

Hydrostor has secured a retail supply agreement with the local water agency for a one-time water draw of 800 acre-feet, or around 987,000 cubic metres, Smith told The Mix. It’s a considerable volume of water—more than twice what’s used annually by a U.S. National Security Agency data centre in Utah, for example. But the draw will occur only once.

Willow Rock is in fact expected to be a net water producer, with the water generated as a byproduct of the compression process collected for reuse in the reservoir, Smith said.

The CEC approval comes almost three years after Hydrostor signed a 25-year contract with Monterey’s Central Coast Community Energy to reserve 200 megawatts of Willow Rock’s capacity for the non-profit utility.

With an additional 50 to 100 megawatts being negotiated, that “leaves 200 to 250 megawatts up for grabs,” reports Canary Media. The uncontracted capacity remains an obstacle to securing the US$1.5 billion in financing needed to begin construction, but Hydrostor has declared itself encouraged by the California Public Utilities Commission’s September recommendation that the state secure 10 gigawatts of long-duration storage by 2031.

“They’ve identified the need for very near-term procurement, so we’re looking forward to participating in that,” company president Jon Norman told Canary Media.

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By Normand Mousseau and Roberta Dagher

Record forest fires, under-utilized agricultural residues like straw and husks and struggling sawmills have left Canada with an abundance of undervalued biomass. If carefully and strategically managed, this resource could become a powerful ally in the fight against climate change.

Canada’s biomass sectors are facing significant uncertainty because of political and natural disruptions. The forestry sector was hit last year by new American tariffs announced by the Donald Trump administration on Canadian forest products, bringing the total duties imposed on Canadian lumber to 45 per cent.

The agricultural and agri-food sector is also particularly vulnerable, since it exports more than 70 per cent of its main crops.

In addition to facing these political uncertainties, biomass sectors are increasingly experiencing the effects of climate disasters. In 2025, fires had burned 8.3 million hectares of Canadian forests by Sept. 30, making it Canada’s second-worst wildfire season on record. With climate change, extreme weather events like wildfires and droughts are likely to become more frequent and intense.

Change is accelerating and risks are mounting. For industries and communities that rely on biomass, this is the moment to define a long-term role in the climate transition.

Biomass resources

Canada needs to move towards a carbon-neutral economy, and the biomass sectors have a key role to play in this transition.

The availability of diverse biomass resources in Canada’s forests and agricultural lands, combined with new technologies to convert them into bioproducts and bioenergy, makes biomass a potential solution for reducing carbon emissions in several sectors, including industry, construction and all modes of transport (road, marine, rail and air).

Biomass can be part of climate change mitigation strategies. Used properly, it can replace fossil fuels and products, and help store carbon in different ways: in sustainable materials made from wood or agricultural residues, in the form of biochar that traps carbon in the soil or through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), which prevents carbon released during energy production from entering the atmosphere.

Several recent projects have demonstrated that interest in biomass feedstocks is high in many industries. In 2025, Canada’s first industrial-scale biochar plant was inaugurated in Québec, while the Strathcona refinery in Alberta will become Canada’s largest facility for renewable diesel.

The potential role of biomass becomes clear in the pathways now being modelled to achieve Canada’s climate goals. These analyses show that if a significant portion of available biomass were used differently, it would be possible to sequester up to 94 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year through BECCS and biochar.

These results underscore the need for Canada to carefully plan new project developments and judiciously allocate biomass between its traditional and emerging uses.

Best uses for biomass

As we explain in a recent study, several factors influence the potential of biomass to reduce emissions, including the type of ecosystem where it’s harvested, the efficiency of its conversion, the fuels used and the products it replaces in the sectors concerned.

In other words, the climate benefits of biomass are not automatic: they depend on the choices that are made at each stage of the value chain. For example, if the processing or transport of resources requires a lot of fossil energy, or if the final product displaces a low-emission alternative, the climate benefit may be marginal or even negative.

Using biomass effectively requires understanding what resources will be available under climate change and their true potential to cut emissions. That potential depends not only on technological efficiency, but also on the cultural, environmental and economic realities of communities.

Still no long-term vision

Decision-makers must avoid working in isolation and take into account the collateral effects of resource allocation. Practices in biomass sectors, whether in forestry or agriculture, evolve slowly. Forests, in particular, follow long growth and harvesting cycles, so the choices made today will influence emissions for decades to come.

Yet, despite the importance of its resources, Canada has no strategy or vision for the role biomass will play in the transition to carbon neutrality by 2050.

Canada has developed several bioeconomy frameworks, including the Renewed Forest Bioeconomy Framework (2022) and the Canadian Bioeconomy Strategy (2019). However, there is still no comprehensive strategy that defines the role biomass will play in achieving a carbon-neutral future, either in energy-related or non-energy-related sectors.

Read more: Océans : les poissons, un puits de carbone invisible menacé par la pêche et le changement climatique

Canada can draw inspiration from its own Canadian Hydrogen Strategy to develop a similar strategy for biomass, based on integrated modelling of its potential in different sectors of the Canadian economy. There is an urgent need to adopt a realistic approach based on analyses at multiple scales — from regional to national — rather than on isolated sectoral targets.

Many players in the sector are stressing the urgent need to adopt a clear national strategy for the bioeconomy in order to provide more predictability to biomass industries in Canada. In an article in Canadian Biomass Magazine, Jeff Passmore (founder and president of Scaling Up) says he’s been waiting for Canada to develop a concrete national strategy for the bioeconomy.

Another article in Bioenterprise in 2023 argued that “one of the key areas needed to build the future of biomass in Canada is a solid, long-term national bioeconomy strategy, supported by industry and governments.”

Finally, a call to action from Bioindustrial Innovation Canada recommends revising the national bioeconomy strategy by setting measurable targets for interdepartmental and intersectoral co-ordination, with a clear road map for collaboration between industry and the public sector.

Biomass cannot be managed blindly. Its impacts vary depending on the region and uses. For future projects to truly contribute to Canada’s climate goals, a coherent national vision is needed now.

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By Fatih Birol, Executive Director

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By Gaye Taylor

As the Canadian oil and gas sector continues to automate, shedding 10,000 jobs in Alberta alone last year, and as the low-carbon transition accelerates, a new report urges Ottawa to adopt a “future-ready work force strategy” that better connects displaced workers with real opportunities.

When it comes to employability within a lower-carbon economy “most Canadian workers already possess many transferable skills,” an “occupational compatibility” that bodes well, writes C.D. Howe Institute public policy analyst Lin Al-Akkad in her recent report, Future-Ready Workforce Strategies and Matching Skills Model: The Energy Transition Case.

But skill gaps remain, alongside limited clarity on how green job demand will evolve. There is an urgent need to “map how workers can shift into emerging green industries,” said Al-Akkad, who expanded on the issue in an Hill Times op-ed.

“Imagine a pipeline of workers laid off from one sector, discarded like old parts, while next door a booming green industry sits idle, struggling to hire,” she wrote.

Oil and Gas Jobs Fall As Output Climbs

Alberta’s oil sector slashed 10,000 jobs in 2025 despite soaring production, the Edmonton Journal reports. “The industry is finding ways to do more with less,” Mark Parsons, chief economist at ATB Financial told the newspaper, identifying “driverless trucks in the oil sands” and other forms of automation as examples.

The Journal says the 2025 layoffs bring oil and gas employment closer to its 20-year average, following a hiring surge during the 2014 boom, but a recent analysis indicates the trend reflects longer-term operational changes. Last October, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that in the United States, the industry’s shift toward hydraulic fracturing—a practice increasingly used in Alberta—has contributed to what it calls “long-term employment decay.”

In 2014, the U.S. oil patch required 53 workers to produce 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. By 2024, after fracking became the dominant extraction method, that figure had fallen to 27.

Millions of New Green Jobs

By 2030, the energy transition is expected to disrupt 14.4 million jobs globally, with 12 million jobs created and 2.4 million lost, according to  [pdf] the World Economic Forum.

In Canada, an estimated loss of 1.5 million oil and gas jobs by 2050 in a net-zero world will be “far exceeded” by a gain of 2.2 million jobs in clean energy, according to a March 2023 report from Clean Energy Canada. The sector is projected to grow at 7% per year through mid-century.

But a smooth transition depends on deliberate policy choices. “To date, energy transition planning in Canada has been long on verbiage and aspiration, but short on concrete levers and commitments to shape the outcome of transitions in ways that benefit workers,” wrote [pdf] the Centre for Future Work in a recent report.

Mapping, Bridging the Green Skills Gap

A key recommendation in Al-Akkad’s report is a significant expansion of Ottawa’s Occupational and Skills Information System (OaSIS) database into a “centralized labour market intelligence platform.”

An expanded platform would map current and emerging green occupations by sector and identify “skills adjacencies and transferable competencies.” This in turn would help identify transition pathways that require “minimal upskilling,” improving the chances for oil workers to secure employment in a low-carbon economy.

The system would also link with training providers and employers to forecast job demand, inform curriculum development, and integrate international benchmarks from organizations like the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.

Training programs, writes Al-Akkad, must be innovative and aligned with decarbonization goals. Industries like low-carbon cement manufacturing, hydrogen production, and green construction each “demand specialized competencies, adaptable delivery models, and strong partnerships between industry and educational institutions,” she writes.

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By Chris Bonasia

A new power purchase agreement by Saskatchewan’s Crown-owned utility, SaskPower, has set the stage for a 100-megawatt solar farm to be built and operated with 50% Indigenous ownership.

The Mino Giizis solar project is being developed by Neoen—–a French renewable energy company that has built other solar farms in Canada— with the Anishinabek Power Alliance (APA), a partnership of four Treaty 4 Nations with political participation from the Yorkton Tribal Council. Neoen and APA will co-own the project through a 50% equity partnership.

The project “shows what genuine partnership looks like: shared power, shared responsibility, and shared benefit,” says a joint statement from five APA leaders: Kinistin Saulteaux Nation Chief Felix Thomas, Zagime Anishinabek Nation Chief Lynn Acoose, Cote First Nation Chief George Cote, The Key First Nation Councillor Fernie O’Soup, and Yorkton Tribal Council Tribal Chief Isabel O’Soup.

“Our Nations see this as a way to move into the future without harming the land, while creating much-needed revenue and employment opportunities for our people,” the statement continues. “Rooted in the spirit of Treaty and our responsibility to future generations, this historic moment is taking our Nations to another level in Treaty 4 Territory.”

On Jan. 14, the two partners signed a 25-year power purchase agreement for SaskPower to buy all the electricity generated by the solar farm. The project is set to go online in 2028, reports SaskToday.

“Southern Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta have the best solar resources in all of Canada,” explained Ryan Dick, Neoen’s province director for Alberta and Saskatchewan. “SaskPower targeted south central Saskatchewan, where they wanted the procurement to take place. So that’s where we began our prospecting in order to site the project.”

The Mino Giizis project was chosen through a two-year procurement process led by the First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), which provided technical support and evaluated team project proposals from Saskatchewan First Nations and their independent power-producing partners.

According to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, the project will be the largest-ever solar farm in Saskatchewan and will bring the province’s total installed capacity of renewables to just under 1,000 MW. The organization says more such projects are expected in coming years, given SaskPower’s 2022 commitment to procure 3,000 MW of wind and solar by 2035.

Construction is set to begin in 2027. Neoen has said it aims to hire 350 people to build the project, 75% of whom will be Indigenous.

Dick said Neoen is working with First Nations and Métis educational and employment organizations “to really figure out how can we hire people, how can we train people, and how can we not only create jobs for this project” but also  provide future work “in the growing solar industry in western Canada,” reports CTV News.

The Regina Leader Post says the project will create five full-time jobs once it goes into operation.

“When we look at projects like this, we see opportunity for our children and grandchildren, economic reconciliation taking root, and our voices and actions helping to shape Saskatchewan’s energy future,”  the First Nation leaders wrote in their joint statement.

“That is what truth and reconciliation means. We move forward together, in a good way.”

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