Feedback to the Canada Electricity Advisory Council

On December 12, 2023, the Canada Electricity Advisory Council launched a consultation seeking feedback from the public to help develop the Council’s final recommendations to the federal government. The Council was launched in May 2023 with a year-long mandate to provide independent advice to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources on how to accelerate investment, and promote sustainable, affordable, and reliable electricity systems across Canada.

The Council’s members include diverse experts from across the electricity sector, including leaders in regulation and policy, clean technology and innovation, socio-economic issues, Indigenous communities and intergovernmental affairs.

The Discussion guide: Barriers & solutions to achieving net-zero emissions goals in Canada’s electricity sector, poses several questions based on the group’s preliminary recommendations, with final recommendations being released in the spring of 2024.

The discussion guide focused on five key areas:

improving planning and oversight of electricity systems;
attracting capital investments to clean electricity projects and maintaining affordability for consumers;
ensuring that electricity infrastructure can be built in a timely manner and in ways that benefit Indigenous partners;
enhancing regional cooperation to take advantage of efficient, low-cost pathways to a net-zero grid; and,
enabling electricity market innovations that can reduce the cost and risk of the energy transition while maintaining grid reliability and resiliency.

The Atlantica Centre for Energy shared feedback based on the Council’s discussion guide and preliminary recommendations. The Centre agreed with most recommendations the Council including:

improving flexibility in the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations;
expanding access to the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit (including allowing investments in inter-provincial transmission);
ensuring a National Indigenous Loan Guarantee program to help Indigenous communities form equity partnerships in clean electricity projects is as robust as possible; and,
having the federal government focus on addressing the electricity sector labour and supply chain challenges.

The Centre supports all provinces developing net-zero energy roadmaps, such as the Path recently released by the Government of New Brunswick, but is concerned requiring such plans to access federal funding programs could create unnecessary hurdles or overstep federal jurisdiction.