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It’s been a very big year for progress on clean electricity in Canada. Friction between provinces and the federal government continues to play out. But that discord is obscuring the large strides being taken by Canada’s provinces and territories, as well as Indigenous Peoples, who understand that clean electricity is a substantial economic opportunity.
So, let’s review this year’s progress by looking east to west, and unpack why these groups will continue to lead the way in 2025.
In 2024, Newfoundland continued to go all-in, developing substantial amounts of onshore wind energy, with the adoption of Bill C-49 in October, paving the way for a similar push on offshore wind. And the planned renewal of the Churchill Falls contract with Quebec paves the way for massive amounts of new hydropower in the future.
In Nova Scotia, federal support unlocked $192 million in investments for six wind and energy projects in July. This is in addition to the $138.2 million investment announced in February to support an energy storage project done in partnership with 13 Mi'kmaw communities.
On Prince Edward Island, solar generation doubled since the beginning of the year. And in New Brunswick, over $1 billion in funding for clean electricity projects was announced this month.
Hydro-Québec has an action plan that will see investments of up to $185 billion over the next decade to ramp up clean energy and electrify the province. The province started the year off finalizing eight bids totalling 1.55 gigawatts of new wind capacity. And Hydro Quebec will end the year with its first request for proposals for at least 150 megawatts (MW) of solar energy.
Ontario has taken significant strides to expand clean electricity with a series of plans and investments, including $1.6 billion to refurbish nine hydroelectric stations. The province also procured 1,784 MW of clean energy storage in May, and its appetite for new capacity is only increasing — it recently increased a planned electricity procurement from 5,000 MW to 7,500 MW. This year also saw the completion of Canada’s largest First Nations-owned transmission line in Northern Ontario and work continues on Canada’s largest battery storage facility in the southwest of the province.
In September, Manitoba released its Affordable Energy Plan — the blueprint for its approach to deliver reliable and clean electricity. The plan introduced an Indigenous loan guarantee for projects that are majority-owned by First Nation and Métis governments for up to 600 MW of power.
Saskatchewan started the year by selecting a builder for the province’s largest solar facility to date, which will deliver 100 MW of capacity. And it also switched on its first-ever, utility-scale battery storage system that can provide up to 20 MW of power back to the grid.
Alberta marked 2024 by burning its last lump of coal — more than five years ahead of schedule — thanks in large part to industrial carbon pricing and other climate policies. And B.C. ended the year with the procurement of nine wind projects — eight of which will be First Nations majority-owned and will provide nearly the same amount of power as the province’s Site C dam.
And last but not least, the territories, with support from the federal government, saw $19 million in investments in clean energy projects in Nunavut and $25 million for expansion of the Taltson hydro facility in the Northwest Territories.
The federal government also advanced its own policies in the electricity sector in 2024, recently finalizing the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) and (soon) the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The CER will help drive necessary investments in bigger, cleaner, smarter electricity systems, while allowing flexibility when it comes to limited use of gas generation in the interim.
This added flexibility — combined with billions of dollars in support for provinces and territories through the ITC for clean electricity and other supports — will help drive a smoother, more cost-effective transition.
However, despite these policy moves from the federal government, electricity remains provincial jurisdiction, and provinces and territories — and increasingly, Indigenous Peoples — will continue to be in the driver’s seat in 2025.
While it’s not always apparent, big steps are already being taken across the country on clean electricity — actions that are putting the country on a trajectory toward ensuring that Canada has the abundant, affordable, reliable power we need, now and into the future.
Jason Dion is the Senior Research Director with the Canadian Climate Institute.
Comments
Presumably, oil and gas are also in provincial jurisdictions as well as electricity. If so, then how is it possible that the federal government can purchase and expand a pipeline for Alberta bitumen, and have its exclusive FEDERAL jurisdiction confirmed be the highest courts in the land against provincial legal challenges? Can the same exclusivity not also apply to another energy corridor carrying electricity generated by provinces?
How would the Supreme Court of Canada make a distinction between two forms of energy carried in land corridors, or justify exclusive federal jurisdiction on one corridor carrying oil but not for another carrying electricity?
The principle should be simple: if the feds build something using federal accounts accompanied by provable national interest justifucations, then the fed's rights over the built object in question should be unassailable. Highways, airways, energy corridors .... there shouldn't be any division in any set of exclusive federal rights.
Who else but the feds could build a national smart grid to distribute provincial and Indigenous generated clean electricity across provincial boundaries?